


Chomp

by VelociraptorAddict



Category: Invader Zim
Genre: First Crush, Frenemies Dib & Zim (Invader Zim), Gen, Good Parent Professor Membrane, Light Angst, Long, Slice of Life, Unrequited Crush, Wordcount: Over 100.000, dib finally has a friend
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2020-10-20
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:53:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 133,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22041370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VelociraptorAddict/pseuds/VelociraptorAddict
Summary: A new character joins Zim and Dib in the adventure of their life. Featuring a new alien species that adds a whole new element to the story. Dib actually gets a friend who likes Paranormal stuff like him and actually helps him feel like a normal kid! Buckle up cause this is a very long tale featuring conspiracy, adventure, slice of life fluff, awkward well meaning parenting, death, and friendship!
Comments: 83
Kudos: 23





	1. Prologue

# Prologue

 _Now, hatchling._ A voice sounded telepathically, having the illusion of consisting of thousands of voices at once, all whispering softly. _Your mission is simple. You will find a host immediately after you land. Do not be picky with your choice, it could mean life or death for you and the mission. Simply choose the first sentient alien you come in contact with, and quickly. Remember, you can always switch hosts little one, but you need to be bonded to someone native to the planet in order to survive there. You will then gather information on the planet and the life forms that live there. We will send someone in three years time to gather your report and begin the invasion._

__

The hatchling being addressed gave a mental reply of confirmation, seeming both confident and nervous in their response. After receiving their mission, they were then instructed to enter a small pod, it was no larger than a basketball and shaped like a reptile's egg. The hatchling had no true form, their whole species was more like an amorphous, constantly changing shadow, so the hatchling was able to fill and fit into the pod perfectly and comfortably.They were then launched into space and soon put into a prolonged sleep as the ship traveled to the planet they were assigned.

The pod landed softly-several months later-in the middle of an Urthen forest. The hatchling emerged from their ship and began their hunt for a suitable host. They knew the orders were to pick the first native they came across, because if they didn’t find something shortly after landing, they would quickly begin to starve and suffocate in this alien atmosphere. But in the middle of this wooded and damp land, the only other forms of life seemed to be the plants all around. They could already feel their life force weakening, they knew they couldn’t survive long off their home planet without a host, maybe an hour at most. The hatchling quickly reached out with their mind in all directions, desperately looking for any hint of intelligent life. Surely the pod wouldn’t have landed so far away from anything else that they would starve before even having a chance to begin!

There _was_ life all around. Thousands of different minds lived in, around, and under the trees. The hatchling could sense everything from teeny tiny buzzing insects to large slowly ambering deer. They just had to find the closest alien to bond with...there. Off to the left and high above, something breathing, something with quick, nervous thoughts. The hatchling quickly glided over the landscape and up the tree like a liquid shadow. They mentally reached out to the small, jittery alien and saw in it’s mind’s eye what form the native alien would find most appealing: that of its own kind, of course. So, the hatchling took the shape of a squirrel before touching their now existing forehead to that of the native alien’s, and formed their first bond.


	2. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT: Corrected the spacing between paragraphs

**Chapter 1**

"What do you _mean_ you don't believe in Bigfoot!" Dib asked incredulously, seeming personally offended as he sat down with a thump that shook the cafeteria bench across from the quiet new kid. Earlier in class she had let slip that she didn't believe in the cryptid while Dib was giving a class presentation on the subject, and he'd of course taken it as an invitation to sit with her at lunch and try to convince her that she was wrong: of course Bigfoot was real!

"Just what I said," Came the girl's reply with a simple shrug as she pulled her sandwich out of its bag. "I don't believe in Bigfoot."

"But why~" He asked.

"Cause,” She responded simply, “the idea of an 8 foot ape wandering loose in the woods just outside town is ridiculous. The woods aren't even that big! Where would he even hide? The trees are barely larger than saplings and there’s almost no undergrowth to hide in."

Dib tried to sputter a response, but he seemed a bit too mad to come up with anything comprehensible. The girl just started eating her sandwich.

"Okay. Well." Dib finally said after being deep in thought for several bites of the sandwich, "What about the Loch Ness monster! Or Mothman, or uh the Jersey Devil?"

"Nessie?” She asked then swallowed. “Oh yeah, she's real. The Loch is deep and large enough for her to keep hidden, no doubt there. I guess Mothman could be real?" She didn’t sound very convinced. “But there’s only like, one actual sighting of him right? The one with the bridge?”-she took another bite-”Doesn’t really sound like enough evidence...and I have my doubts about the Jersey Devil, too.”

Dib still seemed to take that as a victory, even though the girl was still skeptical she was at least willing to talk to him, and that’s more than he could say of any of his other classmates. "What about ghosts?" He asked, leaning into the table towards her, like this was suddenly an official interrogation.

"Most definitely!" She gave him a playful grin, "one tried to kill me once." She tried her best not to smile as she took another bite of her sandwich.

"Wait, really!?" His eyes grew wide and seemed to sparkle with excitement, he planted both hands firmly on the table as he leaned closer still.

"Oh yeah! A few years back, I was at a friend's house, and out of nowhere this bookshelf fell and almost landed on my head! Thankfully my uh...friend-saw it tipping and warned me so I could roll out of the way in time." She gave a small laugh at the memory and the look on Dib's excited face.

"Why did it want to kill you?!" He was almost vibrating on the cafeteria bench, maybe this girl didn’t believe in Bigfoot, but she believed in ghosts! And she actually had an encounter with one!? He’s never met anyone in real life who believed in the paranormal like him-only on questionable websites or the Swollen Eyeball forums.

She shrugged and tried to hide a smile as she spoke, seeming to enjoy his excitement. "Who knows, they never really tried anything past that one time with the bookshelf. But there was loads of other things at his house,” She held her sandwich in one hand and started holding up fingers with the other to count, “Glowing eyes in the woods, dark shadows in the corner of your eye that disappear when you turn to look, sudden cold spots when we tried to camp outside, lights flickering and weird messages on the voice recorder when we played with the ouija board, weird symbols appearing on the trees in his backyard.” She lowered her hand and took another bite of her sandwich thoughtfully. “So, yeah, I believe in ghosts." She gave him a toothy grin.

"So cool! I'd love to check out their house and their yard and everything with an EMF!" Dib started digging through his backpack, as if he planned on doing just that right this second.

"Good luck with that. He lives in Pennsylvania." She finished her sandwich and reached for her drink.

Dib seemed to visibly deflate into the cafeteria bench and laid his head on the table with a disappointed "Oh."

The girl drank her chocolate milk in silence as she watched him mope. She looked over towards the right for a moment.

"What about aliens?" Dib asked suddenly, lifting his head and seeming to get a shadow of his usual enthusiasm again.

"What about them?" She asked confused. She turned back to him seeming a little startled as she set the empty milk container down and reached for her bag of chips. She glanced off to the right for a second time-towards the windows-before meeting Dib's eyes again.

"Do you believe in aliens?" He was tempted to look towards the windows too, but he didn’t want to miss any other micro expressions, so he watched her face carefully.

She shrugged again, though seeming a bit more uncomfortable with this subject compared to the casual ease of the other topics she'd had to endure so far.

"...is that a uh, maybe?" He raised an eyebrow, _Why the shift in mood? Is she hiding something?_

She shrugged again, more of a twitch as she tipped her bag of chips into her mouth to finish the crumbs. "I guess?" She finally said after finishing off the bag, after seeing that Dib wasn't going to stop giving her that intense look until she answered him, she added; "I mean...the universe is a pretty big place…" she glanced again to her right, towards the windows lining the cafeteria wall. "I guess it makes sense that, somewhere, there would have to be life, like, out there?" She met Dib's eyes again. "But, like, Aliens that make it to Earth? I don't think so?"

Dib pretended to be satisfied with this answer, he found himself glancing toward the window-curiously, there was nothing there. Not even a bird or squirrel or any sort of movement that may have caught her eye.

The girl started gathering her trash and pushing it into the empty milk container.

"I've picked up radio signals from outer space." He confided, still watching her.

"Oh?" She feigned interest as she put her backpack on and zipped up her lunch box. Dib got the feeling she wasn’t actually listening any more.

"Yeah. I can't make out anything they're saying, obviously, cause it's in some alien language, but they sound close! The signal seems to be getting stronger every day,too. I swear."

The bell rang.

"Fascinating." The girl responded, though she seemed suddenly very distracted, very deep in thought? "Well, it was nice talking to you uh…"

"Dib." He offered, suddenly feeling embarrassed that he hadn't actually introduced himself earlier. They were in the same class, but they hadn’t formally met. She had transferred earlier this month to their skool but still hasn't made any friends yet. He cleared his throat "Dib Membrane"

"Kailah." She nodded politely, then started walking towards the door, throwing her trash out as she went.

Dib watched her leave, finding her sudden change when he started asking about aliens odd. She seemed nice and actually willing to talk to him, she even admitted to having an encounter with a ghost! Then with one question, she was suddenly cold and couldn’t wait to leave the conversation? He looked towards the empty windows one last time before he zipped his bag closed and followed her out. His mind ticked with a few possibilities.

***

_Is he still following you?_ The voice in her head was made of several voices overlapping, sounding mostly masculine, but with several whispers of her own femine inner voice layered within.

 _Yes._ Kailah thought back, _it's kinda sad, actually...I don't think he has any friends here..._

 _Probably not._ Came the reply, though it seemed to echo her own sympathetic tone, _his personality is a bit... abrasive._

_I think he's just desperate to have ...anyone-who's, willing, to, listen and talk to him about his interests. And I don’t think anyone does, at least...the kids here seem to either avoid him or laugh at him._

_Desperate sounds like a good word._ The voice agreed, she could sense it following her around the school from outside _Just be careful. There’s no way telling how a personality like that may attach itself to anything that shows even the smallest bit of kindness...like a lost puppy...or a serial killer stalker._ The voice faded into the back of her head as she entered the classroom and took her seat in the front middle. Dib gave her a friendly smile as he walked past (the voice gave an “I told you so” impression) and took his own seat by the windows.

Kailah pulled out her textbook and notebook for class and tied to ignore the feeling of eyes on her, knowing that everyone was probably trying to determine that if her "lunch with Dib" was a fluke or something that was worth a trip to the rumor mill, and possibly further reason to keep their distance from the quiet new kid.

"Welcome back, class." Ms Bitters, the teacher, hissed from her desk at the front of the room. "I hope everyone had a miserable lunch. Now open your books to page 163 and start reading to yourself."

Kailah did as she was told with a soft exhale. She could feel her friend reading along through her eyes. After a few paragraphs she stopped reading about the black plague and simply stared at the page, letting her mind wonder and only turning the page when her friend requested it as they continued to read.

_I miss my old school, the teachers were a lot nicer, and learning was actually fun…_

_Because it wasn't all about death and doom?_

_Exactly._ She almost smiled and turned the page. She glanced towards the window, a large brown feathered reptilian head looked back at her. It's bright amber eyes smiling back. She smiled softly then looked back to the book. _Only two more hours till school ends._

_Then we'll walk home, work on homework, eat, then tv, bed._

Kailah nodded the smallest amount, then turned the page.


	3. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT: Corrected spacing between paragraphs

**Chapter 2**

Dib sat on his roof, it was probably close to two am, but he wasn't tired-a combination of a quick after-school nap...and insomnia. He sat cross legged and had his laptop in his lap, he was wearing headphones, listening for that same alien signal that he’d been picking up for the last few weeks. So far, there hadn’t been anything. He looked up from his laptop to the clear, star strune sky above. It was always so quiet this time of night-or morning?-either way it was pretty peaceful, like he was all alone in the world. He watched the stars for a few blissful moments, letting his mind clear, then closed his eyes with a peaceful sigh. His headphones crackled with static and pulled him from his serene thoughts. His eyes snapped open and he turned back to his laptop, clicking away rapidly.

The static cleared quickly and words could clearly be heard! It was the clearest transmission yet! He quickly started recording it, hoping to be able to translate the unknown language later. He was so focused on listening-and typing-that he missed the bright blue streak of light in the sky, indicating an alien ship was entering the planet's atmosphere.

***

**BLAT BLAT BLAT BLAT** click.

Kailah groaned sleepily.

_Time to wake up, we have skool._

_I know..._ She sighed and rolled onto her back, throwing an arm over her eyes. Maybe just thirty more seconds? She felt a gentle mental nudge as her friend sent her the motivation needed to get out of bed. She let out another tired sigh and grumbled incoherently to herself as she tossed the blankets aside. She rolled out of bed and got ready for the day.

Mom was in the living room, TV tuned to the news, as she still had some time before she had to leave for work; Dad had already left for work a few hours earlier. Kailah gave a sleepy greeting as she went to the kitchen and gathered breakfast food.

"Weather should be good the next few days,” Her mom called from the living room, “but you'll probably have to take an umbrella on Friday." 

Kailah gave a quick “Okay.” as she sat and began to eat.

 _Hmm I don't like the rain._ The voice complained softly. Rain was usually cold, and if it rained hard enough, you could almost make out her friend’s shape as the water droplets bounced off their back, plus you could see the puddles slash as they walked through them. Snow was a lot worse, though. They had to stay home while Kailah went to skool, even if there was just the smallest dusting on the ground, or a whisper of snow on the news. Snow left footprints everywhere, and although they could shapeshift into something whose footprints wouldn’t raise suspicion, or into something that could simply fly over the snow. They didn’t like risking anyone seeing anything suspicious, and felt it was safer just to stay home on those days.

Kailah gave them a mental "there there" pat of sympathy as she ate her cereal. They gave a happy, contented thrum of emotion in return as thanks. 

It's been about six Earth years since they first met; Kailah had been in a park with her parents back in her hometown, chasing after frogs, snakes, and salamanders as they watched from the picnic tables-close enough to see, but far enough that they couldn't hear anything. That is when the hatchling approached.

The young hatchling invader had switched bonds several times since they arrived on Urth. They mostly stayed with small prey-like animals (there weren’t really any large animals in the dense forest where they landed). The squirrel that they formed their first bond with didn’t last long-as the animal was very timid and easily scared-it’s emotions often gave the hatchling a bad case of anxiety, they saw danger in everything around them. They’ve formed a total of six bonds over the last Urth month: squirrel, rabbit, fox, badger, rabbit (a different one), crow. Their favorite bond so far was with the young crow: intelligent enough to almost have it’s own language! That made communication a lot easier, the hatchling was almost able to ask fully formed questions, though the crow wasn’t able to answer most of them (they were only about a month past leaving the nest, and didn’t have much experience themselves in the world at large). The crow did teach them the art of flying-which was a blessing in and of itself. Since the hatchling still had a mission to complete-information retrieval-being able to fly was a big help! They convinced the crow to leave the woods with them so they could explore and finally find the true dominant species of the planet to hopefully form a bond with. 

They found, watched, and observed countless humans over the course of the next three months, instinctively they rejected every single one...until her. 

She was young, excited to learn, curious about the world around her, and seemed to be kind to creatures that others of her kind tended to out right despised. If asked, the hatchling wouldn't have been able to put the answer into words, but they knew deep in their core that she was the one they were meant to bond to. Not just a host to use for the mission, but an actual Forever Bondmate. The legendary perfect match.

As they slipped from the shadows of the trees towards the young girl, they released their bond with the crow, and mentally reached out her to see what shape she would find most appealing. Their shape shifted from their true amorphous shadowy form to something the girl would find less frightening, something she would want to bond with in return.

They paused a few feet away and watched her for a moment, tilting their head curiously. She was crouched down by a pile of rocks near a creek, talking soothingly to a small black and orange salamander. She was praising its colors and face for being ‘adorable’. She gently placed it back down on the ground, next to the rock she had found it under, thanking it again for letting her hold it for a bit. 

She stood up and wiped her hands on her already mud streaked jeans as she looked around for her next adventure.

They silently stalked forward another step. Then another. They could feel themselves weakening already-after releasing the bond with the crow-but they didn’t want to rush into forming a new bond. This girl was smarter than any of the animals they’ve bonded with so far. No doubt her emotions would be stronger too. If they simply bonded to her without warning, there’s no telling what her reaction would be. Fear? Panic? Most likely. But would that mean she’d flee or attack? The fox and badger had attacked, the second rabbit had fled (and almost scared itself and the hatchling to death when it sprinted right into a wide creak and started to drown). No, they wanted- _needed_ -this bond to be perfect, they couldn’t rush it.

The girl looked toward the creek as if tempted to go wading into it and try hunting for fish or frogs. Then she turned towards the woods, towards them. She squinted her eyes, her face scrunching up in confusion-she shouldn’t be able to see them? Yet she seemed to be looking right at them? They were invisible to all except that which they were bonded to-and they hadn’t initiated the bond yet...maybe...it was just more proof that she and them were true Forever Bondmates? 

She slowly lifted her arm, unsure why, but something instinctual told her that's what she needed to do at this very moment. She reached towards the hazy shape in front of her, something like a dark fog, or perhaps a smudge in her vision?

They took another step forward and stretched their neck the rest of the way, resting the tip of their snout against the out reached palm of the girl.

Her eyes grew wide and she let out a small gasp of amazement and drew her hand away as-suddenly-the haze materialized into a large dog.

 _Do not be afraid._ Several overlapping voices sounded in her head, mostly masculine but a hint of her own inner voice. Soft and kind, followed by an emotional wave of reassurance. _I want to be your friend._

Her eyes widened further, her hand still resting on the warm and fuzzy snout of what was clearly a Rottweiler. They could sense her excitement mixed with confusion and thousands of questions racing through her mind. Curiously, there was no fear-there had always been fear from the other bonds they’d formed. Everything about her was so different from the others, strong clear emotions, easy to understand thoughts with an actual language that could be translated, and...no fear.

 _I do not have a name._ They began answering her string of unasked questions, _you could name me if you wish, but why? Only you can hear me. Only you can see me. And I would prefer you do not tell anyone about me. Yes, I am a dog, if that is what this animal is called. This is the form I felt you would find most agreeable. Yes, I can change forms. What would you like?_ They listened and watched different images flicker through the child's mind, finally they shifted into the form of a large white tiger, towering over the girl.

She gave a gleeful squeal and ran off towards her parents.

They blinked slowly, cat-like, and stalked casually after. _Please do not tell them._ They said in a slow, soft whisper.

"Why?" Kailah slowed to a casual walk, looking at the large tiger in awe.

_They will not believe you, and if they do, there is no telling how they will react. They can not see me. They can not hear me. Only you can._

"Why?" She slowed to a stop and turned to face them.

 _I am...not of your world. I come from very very far away. It is...how my kind work. We can see our own kind, but we are hidden to all but those that we bond to._ They sat down, their tail curled around their large paws, twitching slowly as they explained. _And we need to bond to that of a native alien in order to survive outside of our own planet._

She still seemed confused and glanced towards her parents, neither of which seemed to notice their daughter's odd behavior as they were deep in conversation with each other.

_I promise I am not a threat to you or anyone else. I simply want to be your friend._

She nodded, and they could feel her acceptance and silent promise to keep their existence a secret for the rest of her life. They smiled softly, this mission would be easy.

***

Kailah left for skool with her friend. As promised, the weather was pleasant enough, though there was a bit of a bite in the late fall air that she found irritating. She hated being cold.

_Remind me to wear a hoodie or something tomorrow._

_Will do._

Her friend walked a half step behind her, they had changed forms several times over the last six years as her own interests and obsessions changed. Their current form, though, had lasted the longest of them all. They liked this form for several reasons: it was easy to move around in (bipedal), it was a good height (perfectly eye level with Kailah when relaxed, but when they stood up straight, they were easily two heads taller than her, which gave them a perfect view of their surroundings), it was fast (easily reaching 60mph in a few quick footsteps, plus they had the stamina to keep the speed up for long distances), and of course, it was Kailah's number one favorite animal of all time: a Velociraptor.

Though, not a scientifically accurate one, as she often liked to point out. They preferred the larger size however, it helped with the speed and gave an advantage in spotting any possible danger from a distance-which they wouldn’t have if they were the size of a turkey. Kailah often teased and called them a Utahraptor, but they insisted that the skull and other body proportions and feather layout were more accurate to that of a Velociraptor than the bulkier Utahraptor. And although she wouldn’t admit it out loud, they could tell in her mind she liked the larger version better too.

Today was no different from their usual routine; the overgrown prehistoric bird followed their human Bondmate closely, simultaneously looking around the sidewalk, street, yards, houses, people, cars, for any signs of danger while also carrying on a casual mental conversation.

They both arrived at the skool with no issue per usual, plenty of time for her to visit her locker and just hang around before class was set to start. Kailah made her way inside with the other students while the Velociraptor made their way around the side of the building to lay down and rest outside the classroom window. The same thing the two of them did every day.

After a quick stop at her locker, Kailah sat down at her desk and got out her books and supplies for first period. She looked up briefly when Dib entered and she heard him give her a cheery greeting as he walked past.

“I _have_ to talk to you during lunch today!” He said in a loud whisper as he sat at his desk, looking particularly excited about something. His leg started to jitter with energy and she could feel the vibrations through the floor.

Kailah politely and awkwardly agreed, trying to ignore the few snickers and comments from the other students.

 _They really don't seem to like him,_ her friend said with a hint of amused curiosity, while also silently musing on a few possibilities of what Dib might be so excited to talk about later: more ‘proof’ of bigfoot? More questions about Kailah’s experiences with ghosts?

 _I think it's cause they think he's so weird?_ She pretended to look up at the chalkboard. _Which, is weird...cause he's not that weird? He's just a little-_

 _Over enthusiastic about his interests?_ They finished the thought.

_Right. I bet if he just dialed it back a bit he'd be able to make a few friends. But he’s so desperate to have everyone believe in, like, bigfoot and stuff. That he really comes across too strong, and that probably just ends up putting a lot of people off._

_What if he doesn’t need everyone to believe him...what if he just needs_ someone _to believe him? Just one person to share his interests, that could be why he’s suddenly attached himself to you. You rejected Bigfoot, but shared that story about the ghosts at Alec’s...and admitted to sort of believing in aliens...and now he’s acting like you’re friends._

_Do you think it’s okay to be friends with him?_

_I don’t see any harm in it so far, you’ve been here almost a month, and haven’t made any friends yet. So it probably is time for you to...and he may be a bit…_

_Talkative? Clingy? Desperate for validation?_ Kailah offered.

_Yes, yes. And-_

_Lonely._ She thought sympathetically.

They hummed an agreement. _I’ve never seen him hang out with anyone except his sister. And even she doesn’t seem to do so willingly half the time. And although he has a strong...personality. I don’t really see any harm in attempting to be his friend...outside being a social outcast._

 _Like that’s ever bothered me before._ She let out a soft, amused sound. _Maybe if I can get a word in edgewise at lunch, I'll tell him to dial back the enthusiasm a bit and then we can try being friends._

 _Oh, yes, I'm sure he'll love hearing that._ They mused.

Kailah smiled to herself as they both imagined different ways that conversation at lunch could go. They were both so lost in the different daydreams, that they completely missed when Ms Bitters stood up and started talking. Kailah blinked and forced her thoughts to focus in on the teacher.

"-because no one at this horrid, under funded, place of misery cares about what the teachers think. We are forced to stuffer overcrowding in our classrooms now. Zim! Introduce yourself or sit down. Stop standing there."

Kailah noticed the new student for the first time, her first impression was a tiny bit of shock and concern ( _He's so green?! He must be really sick or something, I hope it's not contagious)_ quickly followed by a confusing wave of emotions from her friend as they stood up and looked in through the window: shock, confusion, recognition, fear, then nothing. For the first time since they met, Kailah felt, heard, sensed-nothing from her friend.

Before she knew what was happening, she was on her feet and looking towards the window, panic and icy fear seized her heart. What happened?! Where’d they go?! Why couldn’t she feel them?!

There they were, still standing there outside, staring at the new student, but she still couldn't feel them, couldn't hear their thoughts. They made eye contact with her for the quickest flutter of a heartbeat before looking back at the new student, she couldn’t understand what emotion was shining in their eyes.

But she could still see them. They were still there. They were unharmed. Kailah let out a breath she didn't know she was holding, then-before she could feel embarrassed for standing in the middle of class-Dib leapt to his feet, blocking her friend from view and pointed accusingly at the new student.

"Oh come ON!!" Dib shouted, making everyone jump and look away from Kailah towards him. "He is _clearly_ an ALIEN!" 

All the other students groaned and muttered different variations of "not this again". Except Kailah, who slowly looked from Dib and turned her head towards the new student and truly looked at him for the first time. Her mind was still muddled with confusion and fear regarding her friend’s sudden silence, but...could Dib be right?

Zim-that's what Ms Bitters had called him, right? He was now sitting at a desk in the front corner, by the door, feigning innocence and saying something about a "skin condition". But...every skin condition that came to mind usually made one really pale or yellow or orange, not deep emerald green? And Dib made some good counter points, Zim didn't have any ears or a nose, a skin condition wouldn't explain that. Kailah may not have taken any advanced health classes, but she's seen enough medical drama shows to know that much. And even his eyes were a bit odd, bright violent, no one had eyes like that, right?

Kailah tried to look towards her friend again, but Dib was still standing there, blocking her view and ranting. She knew she probably looked terrified. The other students were protesting against Dib’s outburst now, but the combination of Kailah standing, silent, and staring at him, seemed to encourage him and egg him on, because he took that as a sign that at least one person believed him, so maybe he could convince the others, too.

 _Talk to me!_ She suddenly screamed mentally. _Where did you go!?_ She tried to reach out to them with her mind.

 _I'm still here._ They said quickly. Words only, no emotion. It felt haunting to hear, and it made her shiver.

 _Why can't I feel you?_ She tried to broadcast her confusion and fear as loudly as she could, still accidently staring right at Dib, her eyes drilling through him.

Ms Bitters slammed a book onto her desk at the front of the room, making everyone jump. "Sit and shut up."

Both Dib and Kailah sat slowly under the teacher’s glare. Dib looking dejected but gave Kailah a knowing nod, it was at that point that she remembered what he had been shouting about. She whipped her attention to the other side of the room to stare at Zim again, he was giving Dib a smug glare.

_Could he be…? Another alien…?_

Zim's eyes flickered and locked onto hers and she was suddenly overwhelmed with a wave of pure fear as her connection to her friend was re-established without warning.

_ANOTHER ALIEN?! HOW?! WHERE?!_

Kailah winced and covered her ears uselessly at the loud shout. Her heart pounded and blood ran cold as the emotions flooded in a rush and mixed with her own, fear and confusion swirling together and growing.

"Please," she whispered, unable to think clearly past the tornado of thoughts, emotions, and images not her own. "Please calm down, it's okay...it's okay." _He's not doing anything, he's just sitting there._

The emotions slowly dimmed into a headache in the back of her head as she mentally repeated ‘it’s okay, it’s okay’ over and over. She glanced towards the window and felt her face grow hotter in embarrassment as she realized Dib was staring right at her. He had very obviously heard her muttering to herself by the look of concern and confusion on his face. She quickly looked back at her desk and lowered her hands to her lap. She pretended to listen to whatever doom and gloom their teacher was rattling off about. Her heart still racing in response to her friend’s anxiety. 

Zim was an alien.

What did this mean?

Why was he here?


	4. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT: Corrected spacing between paragraphs

**Chapter 3**

Three long and very emotionally draining hours later the bell finally rung to signal lunch. Kailah gathered her things, her mind still being pulled in a dozen different direction (only about three of which she could actually keep up with). Her friend wouldn't answer any of her questions, they were very upset about this new student, the only answer she'd been able to drag out of them over the course of the morning was that Dib was right: Zim was an alien.

He was from a different planet from her Bondmate, one they weren’t familiar with since they couldn’t even guess on his race. And although Zim hadn't done anything except sit quietly in class all morning, they still insisted that he was most likely very dangerous and should be avoided at all costs until more information could be gathered.

"You totally believe me, right." Dib was suddenly standing at her side, an odd look of desperation in his eyes as he stared down at her intently, as if he could read her mind if he just looked at her hard enough. He was bouncing slightly on the balls of his feet.

All of the kids had already left the room (including Zim and Ms Bitters). Kailah was still a bit too scatterbrained to focus on anything, she was struggling to pack her bag, giving Dib the perfect opportunity to corner her and use his usual blunt personality to try and either expose-or convince anyone who'd listen to-what he'd call "The Truth".

"I saw the look on your face," he continued, when she just gave him a confused look as she had trouble focusing on his words. "you believe me that Zim is an alien!"

Oh, right, that. She opened her mouth to respond.

_Don't answer that._

She closed her mouth and sent her friend a confused thought. Dib didn't seem to notice the hesitation.

"You stood up before I did!" His eyes got that odd excited sparkle they got whenever he talked about the paranormal and he continued bouncing slightly, "you see it too right!? There's no way that shade of green is just a _skin condition_ ! And he didn't even have any _ears_ or a nose! And come on! He was _totally wearing a plastic wig!_ And, and...and I bet those were contact lenses too! I couldn't get a close enough look at him, but I totally bet they were!" He suddenly gasped loudly and started bouncing more excitedly, as if stuck by a thought so enormous that if he didn't spit it out right this second he was going to explode. "Whatifthealienradiosignalsivebeenhearinghasbeencomingfromhim!!! That would explain why they've been getting clearer and clearer over the last few days! Cause he was _getting closer to Earth!_ I've got to translate them!! What if he's the lead scout in an invasion!? If I can expose him! I'll be famous for saving the world!"

It would have actually been really entertaining how animated he was getting, if Kailah didn’t have a killer headache and could actually focus on anything. As it was, she couldn’t help a pang of pity creep through her headache as she realized that his monologue just gave more evidence that he already thought they were friends. After a moment, a loud sense of unease with a hint of...guilt(?) at the actual words he was saying started to creep into her brain, and she couldn't tell who was actually feeling those emotions.

"Well?" Dib asked, seeming to finally notice how quiet his conversation partner was being, a hint of anxiety creeping into his voice. "You do believe me right? I mean...earlier you gave me this look like, you _knew_. Or, that you saw through his disguise too? Then you sorta looked like you were having a panic attack or something."

_Tell him you don't believe._

_But I do?? That Zim kid is totally not human! You've been saying that yourself for the last few hours!_ Kailah felt her own anger bubble and she closed her eyes, rubbing her left temple. The two of them almost never fought, but on the rare cases they did, their emotions fed into each other and could easily spiral out of control if one or both didn't back down quickly. And she could feel her own frustration building with theirs.

_Then-I don't know! Tell him you need more evidence! Or time to think! Or something! Just whatever you do don't go near that Zim! If Dib is right! If Zim is a scout here to take over the Earth, than you can’t go near him! He might kill you if he thinks you’re a threat to his mission. And I can’t let that happen._

“I…” Kailah hesitated, feeling a fierce mix of anxiety and the need to protect flooding from her friend. She tried to focus her thoughts on Dib. “I need...more evidence?” She tried, sounding apologetic, her eyes still closed against the mounting headache.

“He is an alien!” Dib insisted, not seeming deterred by her response, because at least she was _willing_ to listen! If anything, his enthusiasm to prove he was right seemed to grow and he started bouncing again. “He’s an alien, and I’m certain we can get the evidence to expose him, come on!” He suddenly bolted out of the room, not seeming to notice that Kailah wasn’t following.

***

The lunchroom was it's usual chaotic mix of noise and faces. Dib walked across the room with confidence and a triumphant grin on his face, easily ignoring the whispers and out right jeers of the other kids. He sat down across from his sister with a clear view of Zim-the _alien_ -sitting all alone at a table along the wall opposite the windows.

"Gaz!" He said in a loud stage whisper and he leaned into the table towards her, "you will not _believe_ what was in my classroom this morning! What is in this _very room_ **_right now_ **!" He hissed excitedly.

"I don't care, Dib." Gaz replied, not looking up from her handheld game as she played with one hand and took a bite of cafeteria pizza with the other.

" _An alien!"_ Dib whispered loudly, ignoring his sister's protest and not taking his eyes off Zim.

"Uh huh." Gaz sounded even less interested and kept eating/playing.

"Just look at him, Gaz. Sitting there, all uh menacingly like! What's he planning, huh? Why's he here? At our _skoooool_." Dib narrowed his eyes suspiciously, watching Zim.

Gaz didn't respond.

Zim was sitting alone at his table, an untouched tray of food in front of him. He glanced around the room then started poking the food with a spork.

"Look, Gaz! He's not even eating! He's just sitting there, _poking_ at it."

Gaz finally relented with an over dramatic sigh, she used her whole head to roll her eyes and looked behind her towards Zim before going back to her game. "He's probably just regretting getting the tacos instead of the pizza." She took another bite of her own pizza as if to emphasize her point.

"No, that's not it. He's not eating because he's an _alien_ , Gaz." Dib insisted. He then spotted Kailah finally entertaining the cafe. He briefly wondered what took her so long before standing up and waving with both arms above his head to catch her attention. He grinned broadly when she only hesitated for a handful of seconds before walking towards him and his sister.

"Gaz," Dib said as he sat back down and Kailah placed her lunch bag on the table next to his sister, "this is Kailah, she's in my class and _she_ believes me that Zim is an alien!"

Kailah sat down awkwardly and tried to give Gaz a friendly smile as she said hello, but Gaz didn't even glance up from her game, so the other girl quickly dropped the smile and started unpacking her lunch.

"Kailah, look!" Now that there was someone else at the table-someone who _believed_ like him!-Dib was putting all his focus on her, "Over there, no no! Don't make it obvious that you're looking, yes, like that. See him? There's _Zim_. He's just sitting there! Not eating! That's gotta be more proof that he's an alien!"

Gaz growled out something under her breath.

"Oh, uh…" Kailah turned back to him before glancing at Gaz nervously. "Just cause he's not eating doesn't really, uh, prove anything?" She took a bite of her sandwich.

"See Dib." Gaz rubbed salt into the wound, "Just cause the new kid doesn't trust the stupid cafeteria food doesn't mean anything."

"But…" Dib deflated and looked down, "but he's green and-"

"He said it was a skin condition," Kailah said, unhelpfully, why was she such a flip-flopper! "We really shouldn't have jumped to conclusions." She wouldn't take her eyes off her own food...but at least she said ‘we’?

Gaz squinted an eye at her, pausing her game and just giving the other girl an unreadable look. 

Dib seemed to deflate more and laid his head on the table.

"Technically," Kailah added, even more unhelpfully around the last bite of her sandwich, as if the thought just occurred to her. "You're not eating right now either, and I don’t remember you eating yester…day..." she trailed off as she noticed the icy stare from Gaz and ducked her head with a muttered apology.

Dib just continued to sulk, not staring at anything.

Kailah opened her drink and glanced over to Zim, who had started loudly coughing at his table. She kept watching him as she sipped her chocolate milk.

Dib let out a sigh and glanced over at the noise. Kailah pushed her bag of chips towards him, Dib glanced at them then gave her a confused look.

"I just wish I could talk to him." She mumbled under her breath, not noticing Dib’s look since she was still looking at Zim.

"Why don't you?" Gaz asked, going back to her game. Dib knew that was her subtle way of trying to get rid of the other girl since her icy glare hadn’t worked.

"Cause I'm not allowed." She muttered, sounding oddly bitter? What did she mean by 'not allowed'? Like, someone ordered her to say away? What on Earth did that mean?

"What do you mean?" Dib asked, he sat up straight, looking at her for any subtle clues. "Who told you not to talk to him?” When _would_ someone have told her? It was only like, five minutes, since their conversation in the classroom?

Kailah didn’t respond, didn’t make eye contact, she just focused on her drink. Dib narrowed his eyes, what was she hiding? He thought for a moment then had an idea.

“Actually, you totally _should_ go talk to him! I can't. He won't say anything to me since he already knows I know what he is. But you didn't say anything in class till after he left, he won't suspect- why are you shaking your head? It'd totally work! He doesn't know you know!"

"I can't." She said again, looking...mad? Resentful? Why? This sudden mystery was really getting under Dib’s skin.

"Why not?” He couldn’t help an edge slipping into his voice and he moved his arms around as he spoke, “We need to know what he's planning! Why is he here? On Earth, at skool? What is he planning. He probably won't tell you anything, but he definitely won't tell _me_ anything after I publicly outed him. You gotta at least introduce yourself, maybe make friends, lower his guard? Take notes on everything and anything he says. You can help gain the evidence we need to prove he’s not human!"

She gave him a pained look then pushed the chips closer to him before glancing towards the windows.

Dib picked up the chips and followed her gaze. _What is she looking at? One of the kids on that side of the room? Outside? Is she wanting to leave this conversation or...hmm actually she seems to look out the window a lot? I’ve seen her do it in class a lot too...wonder if...no, I'm sure she's just looking at a bird or squirrel or maybe just staring at nothing while deep in thought?_ He opened the chips and started eating, his mind wandering back to aliens as he watched both Zim and Kailah. Zim had pushed his tray away and glowered at it. Kailah had started eating a string cheese. What if... _what if Kailah can't talk to him because she's...I mean, it could explain her 360 stance of maybe aliens exist to agreeing that Zim is one to this denial? And why she gets so flip-floppy whenever aliens are brought up, and why she seems to be hiding something. But she seems to be eating without any problems...then again she packs her lunch, I don’t think she’s ever bought food from the lunch line. And she actually talks to me, unlike all the other kids...what if she's...an Alien too?!_

Dib narrowed his eyes suspiciously and watched the "girl" eat. He looked down at the chips she'd given him and started examining them and the bag for any hint of other worldly ingredients. They tasted fine, and he didn’t see anything out of the ordinary with the packaging... he downed the rest of the bag just as the bell rang.

***

Zim winced at the loud high pitched ringing of the bell. He watched as the Urth Smeets stood and threw away trash and uneaten food alike before leaving through a set of double doors at the back of the large foodening room. He stood and mimicked them, he threw away his vile, disgusting, inedible Urth food, then followed them out the door. 

He could feel eyes watching him. Always watching. Everytime he glanced around, it seemed to be that annoying Dib-stink, the _stoopid_ _hyuman_ that saw right through his clever and brilliant disguise! Thankfully, none of the other smelly class-things seemed to believe anything he said. Though-there was that female. She hasn't said anything, but she stood and stared for a long time at Zim, while that Taller teacher drone introduced him to the class. And she seemed to stare harder while the Dib-stink threw around his accusations. And then later she sat with him during foodening. She must suspect Zim too, at the very least. Zim would have to gather more information on both Urth Smeet to know how much of a threat they were. Perhaps after skool, Zim could follow them to their dwellings and set up some surveillance cameras later tonight…

Zim was so deep in his brilliant thoughts and scheming, he overlooked the fact that he was now outside-surrounded by a fence-trapped with all the horrible smelly Urth worms. He tried his best not to growl as he found a shaded place to sit and observe his future slaves.

There was the Dib-beast, staring at Zim again. Whispering to the brown haired girl, the girl with purple hair who had also sat at the foodening table with them was nowhere to be seen. That made Zim uneasy, what if the other two sent her somewhere to hide and spy!? 

Zim glanced around the fenced yard, paranoid. The skool _children_ were all running around, being loud and annoying and just-ugh!-revolting!

Zim looked back towards the Dib-stink, (brilliantly hiding the fact that he was spying back on the filthy Urth hyuman of course!). The Dib-stink was still there, whispering conspiratorially to the girl Zim did not know the name of. He seemed to be trying to convince her of...something. She shook her head, indicating she did not agree to what he was saying, several times as he talked.

 _What are they planning?! They can't possibly know what the_ mighty Zim! _has planned for their filthy mudball planet! And they have no_ proof _that Zim is not hyuman! That's it! They must be plotting how to get proof!_

Zim glared harder at the Dib-stink and the unnamed girl. Silently cursing this confounded wig for impairing his perfect and amazing Irken hearing. Then, movement caught his attention, just on the other side of the fence. A...hazyness in the air, a blob shadow thing? Zim squinted, flexing different muscles in his eyes to change the range of the color spectrum that was visible to him, and the form came into focus. What on _Irk_ was _that_!!?

***

"Come on," Dib insisted in a low voice to Kailah as they exited the lunchroom for recess. "I'm not asking you to, like, ask the guy to dissect you or anything!"-Kailah winced-"Just go over and introduce yourself. You've only been at this skool a little over a month! You know what it's like to be the new kid, so...just pretend you want to be his friend or something." He practically begged before glancing over at Zim then back at her, "I-uh, _we_ need to get evidence that he really is an _alien."_

 _Don't go near him._ Her friend warned sternly, anxiety still flowing freely under their words. They usually joined her in the play yard during recess, hanging out under a tree and watching the other kids play while she drew or read a book-but today, they were hanging back, on the other side of the fence, shifting nervously from foot to foot wanting to be next to her but unable to with Dib hanging so close.

Kailah glanced over at Zim, sitting under the shade of the tree she usually occupied. She sighed and shook her head to what Dib was asking, even though she _did_ want to go and talk with Zim, her friend's anxiety was leaking into her and making her own stomach twist and flip. She remembered her first few days-weeks really-of skool, everyone avoiding the new, quiet kid. She had her Bondmate, so she never minded being left out of conversations or games by the other students. She was used to it a little at her old skool, too (though she had managed to make a small number of friends there before she had to move). But right now, the other kids were treating Zim differently from how they treated her, instead of simply ignoring him, they out right avoided him. It was probably Dib’s fault, he had accused Zim of being an alien, and even if none of the other kids believed him, it was enough for Zim to be labeled an outcast and shunned. Kailah couldn’t help but feel a bit of pity for him, even if he was an alien, it probably didn’t feel good to be avoided like the plague.

 _Don't._ Her friend said, reading her train of thought as always. _He might be dangerous, we don’t know anything about him._

 _Exactly, we don’t know anything about him. He might be like you, harmless and just wanting a friend._ She tried to ignore the hard lump growing in her stomach and use logic to beat out the emotions. 

“Please,” Dib tried again.

“Alright, just. Let me think.” Kailah interrupted before he could go on another begging spree. She glanced back over to Zim and quickly looked away when he looked up and made accidental eye contact. Kailah looked at Dib for a moment, sighed, then looked to her friend on the other side of the fence-just past Dib’s shoulder.

 _The only way to learn about him,_ she thought, an image of Zim flashing through her mind, _is to talk to him. Dib makes a good point. I’m still considered a new student so it makes sense that I’d be one of the first kids to go over and introduce myself. And there’s a bunch of kids here so it’s not like he’ll do anything to me, not unless he wants dozens of witnesses._

The Velociraptor visibly sighed and shifted on their feet again, their tail swayed behind them and they shuffled their wings nervously as they thought; _I understand what you’re saying._ They looked away and huffed. _I don’t like it._ They looked back at her. _But I understand it. So...fine. But, pleeease. Kay. Please be careful, and if he so much as lifts a finger suspiciously I will disembowel him._ A bloody image flashed into her mind as they puffed up all their feathers threateningly.

Kailah hid a smile and sent a mental confirmation of understanding and thanks for agreeing. The Velociraptor’s feathers flattened again then they glanced towards Zim and tilted their head curiously.

“Well?” Dib asked, distracting Kailah from her friend’s sudden and subtle curious confusion. Dib kept glancing between Zim and her rapid fire, the supposed alien was openly staring at them now and it made him feel a bit uneasy. Dib even glanced behind him for a second, since Kailah seemed to be staring at something near the fence and it almost looked like Zim may be looking at the same spot.

Kailah nodded, “Yes, I’ll go introduce myself.” Her Bondmate started pacing slowly along the fence, an odd sense of confusion flowing from them, but again, Dib quickly distracted Kailah before she could ask her friend what was going on, he grabbed her by the shoulders and grinned.

“Great!” Dib quickly let go when he saw the startled look on her face, he gave her a sheepish apologetic look then put on a serious face, “Okay, we should probably be smart about this, if you go over right now he’ll be suspicious.” He started to pace in front of her as he spoke. “After all, we’ve been talking this whole time...plus lunch, and during class you didn’t exactly agree with me, but you were also the only other student who stood up and stare at Zim like he wasn’t human. I’m sure he’ll have his guard up, and he’ll most likely know that you’re only going over to talk to him now because of me. So we gotta be smart.” He started pacing a little faster as he went deep into thought.

 _That can’t be right..._ Her friend’s voice muttered in the silence, even more confused than before with a hint of fear.

Kailah glanced over at them, they had moved to the top right corner of the fence. Kailah and Dib still stood at the bottom right near the skool building. While Zim was sitting closer to the middle of the yard under the tree. Her friend was staring right at Zim. Kailah looked behind her. 

Zim was now standing under the tree, staring right at her friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gaz and Zim are both so much fun to write, I hope to give them a bit more focus and POV narratives down the road.  
> I know it's a bit of a slow start so far, but I promise I have some fun plans down the road!  
> Please comment!  
> and follow me on tumblr @VelcoraptorAddict I write reviews/recommendations on all the IZ fics I read, so it's a good place to find more reading material if you find yourself lacking


	5. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I skip around with POV a bit in this chapter, I hope it's not too confusing, I tried to use different verbiage to help show who's in charge at any given point. Let me know if it's too much of a mess ^_^;  
> EDIT: Corrected spacing between paragraphs

**Chapter 4**

Dib paused in his pacing and faced Kailah, “Okay, I think I have a plan.” He was too ‘in the zone’ to realize she wasn’t looking at him-wasn’t even facing him. Dib started moving his hands around and pacing again to emphasise his plan as he spoke. “We could stage a quick argument, loud and obvious. Something to show you don’t believe in aliens or something-eventhoughwebothtotallyknowthatyoudo.” He added that last part under his breath, as if to convince himself more than anything else, he glanced at Kailah-who was staring at Zim. “Then, we...hey, are you even listening?” He looked over her shoulder towards Zim, who was standing and looking...really confused and possibly...scared? Anxious? Dib tried to follow his gaze to the fence in the top right of the play yard but he didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. Dib quickly glanced around the whole recess area, everything was normal. Kids running around, screaming, balls being thrown, nothing was any different than it usually was?

Dib moved so he could see Kailah’s face, she was staring at Zim, her face pale and eyes wide.

“Are you sure?” She whispered, barely audible, if Dib hadn’t been standing so close-and looking at her so closely-he would have completely missed it in the normal chaos of recess. What was she suddenly so freaked out about?

“Hey.” Dib waved a hand in front of her face to get her attention, “What’s going on? What’d I miss?” He glanced back at Zim-still frozen by the tree-then back at her, hundreds of questions shining in his eyes.

Kailah blinked slowly then turned her head towards Dib, he noticed her eyes darting over that same stretch of fence that Zim seemed to be focused on. Then she just stared at Dib, as if she forgot who he was or something?!

Dib repeated his questions, a note of impaticents sneaking into his voice.

“I…” Kailah closed her mouth, then all at once her whole face was waring between confusion and fear. “I don’t know! Stay here!” She blurted before spinning back around and running full speed towards Zim, leaving Dib utterly confused and speechless with frustration.

***

_What are you doing?!_ They shouted in a panic and started pacing back and forth along the fence quickly like a caged tiger, watching in disbelief as Kailah ran headlong towards Zim. The latter didn’t seem to notice as his eyes were still focused on them, following their sudden bout of nervous pacing.

 _You said he can SEE you!!_ Kailah’s heart pounded in her chest as her feet pounded the ground. The confusion, fear, and anxiety, flowing between the two of them was swirling together and growing, activating her fight or flight adrenaline. And her body had made the decision to confront Zim before her mind could fully understood why she was running towards him.

 _Then you should stay AWAY FROM HIM!_ They shouted back, pacing faster as the swirl of emotions continued to mount. _No one should be able to see me! I don’t know_ WHAT _he is! You should NOT be going near him Kay!! I don’t know what this means but: It. Can._ **_Not._ ** _Be._ **_Good_ ** _!!_

Kailah slammed into Zim.

Zim had been so focused on the odd pacing of this large, feathered creature that seemed to be invisible to the hyumans, that he was completely caught off guard when something slammed into him from the side. His PAK smacked painfully against the trunk of the tree, as the Urth Smeet threw her whole body against him and pinned him against it. 

“Why- _how_ -can you _see them?!”_ It was the brown haired girl that had been talking with the Dib-stink. She had an odd, crazed look in her eyes, Zim couldn’t quite pin-point what emotions were displayed there, but he definitely did not like how this filthy hyuman had it’s grubby little hands tangled up in his tunic.

“Release Zim!” He swatted at her hands to make her let go then roughly pushed her so she stumbled back a few steps, giving him enough room to step away from the tree. Zim then started tugging at his tunic to straighten the cursed wrinkles.

“Answer me.” She almost growled, not seeming deterred once she regained her footing, her hands clenched into fists at her side.

“Eh?” Zim gave her a disgusted look as he straightened his wig. “Zim does not know what you are talking about.” He said primly as he stood as tall as he could before turning to march away. The girl stepped in front of him, her crazed look seemed, less so now. Though she also didn’t seem about to drop the hostility.

“I know you can see them. Don’t lie.” She said in a loud whisper, as if afraid any of the other Urth smeets may be listening.

“Them?” Zim asked, honestly confused. Being suddenly slammed into the tree had completely taken his mind off the strange creature.

Kailah seemed to deflate, her shoulders dropped and all her hostility drained in an instant as doubt crept into her mind. _He actually looks genuinely confused?_

_But he was definitely looking right at me...his eyes were following me and everything!_

_Is he just a really good liar? Or...stupid?_

_Well you did slam into him pretty hard…_

Zim made to walk around her again then froze mid-step. “Oh. That them.” His eyes were locked back on the creature, standing now on this side of the fence and halfway to where Zim stood.

 _But my guess would be: stupid._ They said while making direct eye contact with Zim. They glanced back over their shoulder then side stepped out of the way as Dib walked past them, right towards Zim and Kailah.

Zim watched Dib confused, making a mental note that the hyuman didn’t seem to notice the creature at all. Then Zim took a few steps to his left so that he could keep an eye on all three of them at once. 

Kailah swallowed nervously as she glanced between her Bondmate, Dib, and Zim. _I may have not thought this through...sorry…_

The Velociraptor watched Zim carefully for a moment before slowly walking closer, they stopped when they were about two body lengths away, neither taking their eyes off the other. _What’s done is done. We’ll have to play this next part by ear._ They glanced at Dib uneasily, _Unfortunately, I think the cat is about to be out of the bag..._

As if on queue, Dib spoke up. “ _What_ are you looking at?!” He directed the question first at Kailah, then turned his gaze to Zim.

Kailah flinched and bit her lip guiltily, trying to look anywhere but at her Bondmate.

Zim lifted an arm and pointed a gloved claw at empty space. “You don’t see it?” He asked the Dib-stink, then he glanced at the girl thoughtfully and lowered his arm; his PAK started humming as he searched for an answer.

“See what?!” Dib whirled towards Kailah, he was almost tempted to pull the EMF out of his bag; what if it was a ghost?! Kailah seemed to shrink in on herself.

 _What do I do?!_ She panicked. The past six years was all about keeping this very secret! The two of them never even considered the possibility of it coming out, especially not like this!

 _I-I...I don’t know~_ They started feeding into the panic again, growing it. _We don’t know Dib well enough! But Zim can seeee me! So the secret’s already gone! But Dib is exactly the kind of person who wants to_ expose _aliens! And I AM an alien! We...we can’t trust him! But Zim’s sure to say something! And I know even less about Zim! I...I don’t know what to do!_ The emotions swirled and grew in both of them. Kailah and her friend both started breathing faster, hyperventilating in sync.

“Loughran!” Zim said triumphantly as his PAK whirled down and went quiet again. 

“What?” Dib and Kailah said together. Dib was simply confused by the outburst and the look of triumph on Zim’s face.

Kailah blinked rapidly as the panic suddenly vanished, replaced with the utter shock and confusion that someone actually knew that word. _What is that? Log...rhin?_

 _Loughran._ They corrected gently, though still staring at Zim in wide eyed shock, _That’s the Vortian term for my species...I think…_

"The...what…?" Kailah directed the question to her Bondmate even though her eyes were still on Zim. She tried to process that, up until now she had been told they didn't have a species name.

_We don't, not in our own language at least. Loughran is a Vortian term-they're another alien race. I think it roughly translates to “Invisible Bond”? I don't know much about them, though-past that their language tends to be the "universal" language for trade and such?? I think it's easiest to learn and pronounce compared to other languages, no matter the intelligence or vocal range of the race? Or something… I was told Vortian's are supposed to be really smart and friendly, but no clue what they look like...but I don’t-_

"That's what you are!" Zim announced to the Velociraptor, unaware of the silent conversation he'd interrupted and further ignoring Dib's frustrated and confused questions and hand gestures. "That's why these hyumans can't see you." He looked at Kailah with a glint in his eyes, "Except for your host, of course." Zim took a step closer to her, giving her a look that she couldn’t quite translate, but chilled her to her core.

The Velociraptor's feathers puffed up quickly in defense, _Don't touch her!_ flashed menacingly through their mind as they bared their teeth-a very mammalian thing for a bird to do-and stepped threateningly towards Zim, their wings slightly splayed and all claws curled towards him.

"What are you _talking_ **about**!" Dib almost shouted, stomping his foot in frustration and throwing both his arms challengingly at Zim. He was very quickly losing his patience at being left out of whatever this conversation was about! What was this conversation even about?! Loughran? Something invisible to humans? A Host? _Kailah?_ Dib looked from Zim to the girl and back again, really wanting to get more information on this newest mystery. Maybe his ‘Kailah is an alien, too’ theory wasn’t that far off??

“This does not concern you Urth worm.” Zim gave him a disdainful look, like Dib was a chewed-up wad of gum Zim has just stepped in, then he turned back to the girl. “How did you even manage to pick up this...Parasite? Last I heard they were all wiped out.”

 **_PARASITE_ ** _!_ A pure explosion of emotion: Offended.

Kailah winced at the intensity of the shout and bit down harder on her bottom lip as she tried to think of her options. She glanced at Dib-he looked about ready to start a fight just to get some answers. She looked at her Bondmate-they were still fuming at Zim’s comment. When she turned to look back at Zim, he was suddenly standing right in front of her, his hands reaching out towards her.

“Answer Zim! AHH GET OFF!!” In a flash, Zim had been pinned to the grund, his face being squished into the dirt. The Velcoraptor perched on top of him, one foot pressing his head to the ground, the other planted firmly on his back just below his weird silver and pink spotted metal backpack.

“Wha...What?!” Dib asked, dumbfounded. He looked at Kailah as he ran both his hands through his hair helplessly, his eyes wide and wild with confusion and excitement.

_Go ahead. Tell him. At this point there’s no going back._

“Right…” Kailah took a slow breath in, about to explain everything to Dib. That’s when one of the teachers blew the whistle. For one startling moment Kailah and her Bondmate feared they were going to get in trouble for fighting, but as Kailah looked towards the noise they both realized it was simply the signal that recess was over.

Zim’s PAK started to make a mechanical whirring sound just as the Loughran hopped off him. They took a few hopping steps as they turned around so that they were standing next to the girl and facing him. Zim let out a very not-human sounding growl as he slowly got to his feet and glared death daggers at the Loughran. He started dusting himself off and was about to go into a very heated scolding on ‘How _DARE_ they attack Zim!’ when he realized that the three of them were heading towards the skool building... _not even looking at Zim!!!_

“Okay.” Dib turned to Kailah as they headed towards the door. “And I can not stress this enough: _WhaT_ WAS _THAT_ !! Are you _possessed_ by a _ghost_?!”

“No.” Kailah said simply. She glanced over her shoulder, towards Zim-who seemed to be silently fuming as he watched them walk away-then looked at her Bondmate. _You might have to come inside with me...who knows what he’ll do…_

They nodded and their whole body blurred and turned black as they shrank. 

“Then what?!” Dib demanded as they entered the hallway, he was almost walking backwards as he walked in front of Kailah and demanded answers.

A very normal looking crow landed on Kailah’s left shoulder, they turned their head this way and that, looking for any danger.

Kailah took a slow breath in, then sighed loudly. The crow nuzzled her cheek in support. She met Dib’s eyes.

Dib stared at her harder, walking a little too close for comfort.

“I promise I’ll explain more after class.” Kailah whispered. “But...long story short,” she looked away as she tried to gather her thoughts. She took a slow breath in, then looked back at him and said quickly. “Invisible alien that forms mental bonds, only those that they’re bonded with can _-should_ be able to see them. Somehow, Zim can see them, even though as far as we know he shouldn’t be able to? I don’t know...it’s all new and confusing to us too. Just, Dib.” She placed a hand on both his shoulders-forcing him to stop walking as she did-and look looked him in the eyes (a few students grumbled bitterly as they were forced to walk around them). “Promise me you will not. Tell. _Anyone_. About this. Please.” She begged in a low voice, searching his eyes pleadingly.

Dib hesitated. _Two!! Two different aliens in ONE day! Two aliens from_ **_completely different planets!_ ** He could-no! He _would_ be world famous if he showed proof to the Swollen Eyeball! Or he could reported it to Mysterious Mysteries! He would be a world famous hero!

But...Kailah…

The look on her face, so desperate to keep this secret. She was the first person in years to actually accept him as a possible friend, or...to-at the very least-share his interests in the paranormal. And what would even happen if he reported it? Whatever alien was attached to her couldn’t be seen by anyone else, how would he even get proof that it existed? And if he only reported Zim? Well, Zim would definitely spill the beans. And it wasn’t like Dib had enough evidence yet to report Zim as an alien anyway. It was still technically mostly a hunch, especially if he couldn’t use the fact that Zim could see this ‘Loughran’ thing as proof. _Guess that means I have to sit on this information a little longer…_

Dib sighed and looked away. Kailah slowly let go of his shoulders and started to lower her arms, fearing he wouldn’t agree. 

He nodded.

Kailah grabbed one of his hands firmly in both of hers, smiling in relief and moving their hands up and down to emphasize her words “Thank you! Thank you so much, Dib! You don’t know how much this means to me-to _us_!” She let go of his hand before turning away and heading to class.

Dib watched her walk away for a moment, an odd feeling in his gut. Stuffing his hands into his trench coat pockets, he followed her.

Yes, he could definitely sit on this information a little longer.


	6. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a Kailah/Loughran heavy chapter, but 6, 7, and 8 will all heavily feature Dib and Zim, I promise, so look forward to that in the up coming weeks!

**Chapter 5**   


The rest of the skool day was...well, lets just say that it would have been laughable how oblivious the teacher and other students were to the fact that the room was filled with such a strong, negative miasma-if it wasn’t so emotionally and physically draining for the four-well  _ three _ -individuals that were aware of it.

The crow-shaped Loughran stood on Kailah’s desk, facing and glaring at Zim. Zim glowered at them in return, eyes narrowed slits and lips a thin, angry line. Kailah found it impossible to focus on anything Ms Bitters said (something about Christopher Columbus not deserving a holiday?), and she couldn’t write any notes to review later with her friend taking up a third of her desk. Which just left her, sitting there, stewing in their shared emotions and thoughts. She used up almost all of her emotional strength just trying and help calm and suppress the strong feelings that kept rising up in her Bondmate, their emotions were in a swinging pendulum of anxious worrying about Zim relalitating after skool by starting a fight, and seething rage about the ‘Parasite’ comment thus wanting to start the fight themselves.

Dib couldn’t see the Loughran, but between Zim’s death glares and Kailah’s exhausted and pale face, he was pretty certain that it was in the classroom _ right now _ ! He  _ really  _ wished he could see it! He spent the rest of class occasionally glancing between Zim and Kailah, while also writing up notes and drawing diagrams for any ideas that popped into his mind that could possibly make that wish a reality. He completely ignored Ms Bitters.

_ Parasite.  _ The voice muttered bitterly, not taking their eyes off Zim.  _ How dare he! I’m not a  _ **_parasite_ ** _!  _ Their feathers puffed slightly as they tried to glare harder at the green alien.

_ I know you’re not.  _ Kailah thought gently-not for the first time-her eyes half closed and unfocused as she tried again to suppress her Bondmate’s indignation. They calmed down slightly in response and their feathers smoothed. After a few minutes of calm, they started repeating the play yard interaction again, looking for a way that the two of them could have possibly avoided the whole thing. One of the things that the Loughran kept finding to focus on was the fact that they could have kept out of view. But it wasn’t like either of them could have known Zim would be able to see them, so really...Zim finding out about her Bondmate was bound to happen. It was just a matter of time, they were always in plain view. The only time they put any effort into staying out of sight was if it was raining or snowing. In fact, they usually spent recess meer feet from Kailah, and the only reason they’d stayed on the other side of the fence was because they didn’t want to risk accidentally bumping into Dib while he excitedly paced around and flailed his arms while thinking of ways to expose Zim by making Kailah befriend him.

Really, Kailah was the one to blame. Just...running and attacking/confronting Zim like that. It definitely was not the smartest thing she could have done in that situation. Especially considering-up to the moment where Zim openly admitted he could see the Loughran-she hadn’t been entirely certain that he could, she just reacted to her Bondmate’s fear and confusion. And by attacking Zim, Kailah pretty much did everything short of screaming that she was the one they were Bonded to. Who was she kidding-she ran her hands over her face and let out a tired sigh-she literally did screamed in his face! If she had just remained calm and kept her distance the two of them could have thought this through a lot better. So, really it was all Kailah’s fault that everything went sideways…

_ No, there were definitely a few things I could have done differently, too.  _ They tried to console her. Kailah let out a small snort, not really agreeing with the sentiment and propped her head up on one hand.  _ I could have...should have, kept my own emotions in check. They fed into you and caused you not to think rationally...I also should have tried harder to stop you the moment I realized what you were about to do. _

_ Maybe...but I still shouldn’t have charged at him like a bull seeing red…just cause our emotions got out of check, that doesn’t excuse my own behavior. _

Her friend gently nibbled at her finger with their beak, they sent her a wave of understanding along with a sense of forgive-your-self-ness. Kailah smiled softly as the emotions calmed her a bit in return and she subtly rubbed the thumb of her free hand against their feathered chest in thanks.

_ Can I ask a question?  _ Her eyes flickered towards Zim, he was still watching the two of them out of the corner of his eye.

_ Always.  _ They looked up at her and she met their gaze.

_ If you guys are invisible to everything except what you’re bonded to, how do other aliens, like Zim and the um...Voltron? _

_ Vortians. _

_ Yeah, Zim and the Vortians...How do they know about your kind? Are...log rhin-Loughran, not as secretive with their bonds on other planets? _

They contemplated the question for a moment, rolling it over as they finally sat on the desk-still facing Zim-and settled down. ... _ I don’t-...I wish-....  _ Their thoughts were a bit scattered and they had to restart the sentence a few times, as they tried to think how best to answer. They took a slow breath in to gather themselves, their eyes closing momentarily before they looked back at Zim.  _ I was sent away from my planet at a very young age. So I don’t have much knowledge of it...and I know very little of my own kind. I know we can’t die of old age, so our history must be very long and complex. And if we’ve interacted with other races enough for them to have a name for us in their language...then it’s possible that we did not keep our bonds a secret on those other planets? But I was told to keep it a secret when I was sent here...that it could mean life to death.  _ They admitted sadly, then tilted their head slightly to look up at her with one eye-keeping the other still on Zim.

Kailah moved her thumb slowly to rub their feathery chest again, (this time the movement seemed to catch Dib’s eye as he looked over at her, but he soon returned his attention to the scattering of pages on his desk).  _ Probably for the best.  _ She admitted to her Bondmate,  _ Humans aren’t exactly that inviting to things they don’t understand.  _ She looked down at them, her thumb still making small circles in the ebony feathers. _ You’ve seen how they react in horror movies and such...or whenever a bee lazily floats by, or a spider is found chilling in a corner, or a snake shows up unexpectedly… _

_ Even when earthworms show up on the sidewalk after heavy rain will send some people running for the hills.  _ They added in an amused tone.

_ Exactly!  _ She suppressed a smile as she continued to pet them,  _ And those are all things Humans actually have studied and understand...imagine how’d they’d react to finding out aliens are actually real... _ She added in a bit more serious tone. They both then sat quietly for a few moments, allowing their minds to calm and empty and drift to thoughts about nothing as they listened to the sound of Ms Bitters rambling in the background. Then Kailah remembered something Zim had said,  _ I know you were pretty upset about that parasite comment… _

A flash of irritation as their feathers bristled and they started glaring at Zim again.

_ But...did you actually hear what Zim said right after that?  _ She asked softly.

A small flutter of curious confusion and a silent admittance that they weren’t really listening after the ‘P’ word was accused.

_ “How did you even manage to pick up this...Parasite? Last I heard they were all wiped out.”  _ Kailah replayed the memory, the look on Zim’s face, the way he spoke that last sentence, curious and snooty at the same time, a know-it-all sneer on his face. She felt her own blood run cold as the words sank in followed by fear and panic beginning to swell in her friend.

_...what…?  _ Barely a breathy whisper. Their mind went blank with fear and denial as they just stared, now wide eyed, at Zim.

Kailah watched them worriedly. This was a very different silence from before, that had been more like the Bond had been severed, as the Loughran was so shocked and petrified by the sudden, unexpected appearance of another alien. They had to suppress the link so as not to overwhelm Kailah’s thoughts with their own fear, panic, and confusion (which unfortunately, did not work, as she still ended up causing a scene thanks to her own fear, panic, and confusion at the sudden loss of all sensation from her Bondmate). But this time, the link was still wide open, there just...weren’t any thoughts, only a deep chasm of denial lined with sharp black spikes of fear. 

Then the thoughts returned-slowly and muddled at first but quickly gaining speed, starting and stopping, backtracking and stumbling over each other, memories overlapping, theories rising and shattering all like a frozen ocean. All emotions being pushed aside, as they tried to examine the information for the truth. Kailah tried to follow along, she saw their first memories, memories she’d never seen before. There was a flash of images-many shadowy forms gathered around and looking down at a very small shadowy puddle-a planet with black soil and dome shaped buildings-the elders that ruled their society-receiving important orders that they would need to gather information on a far away planet to see if it was safe and habitable-to see if the planet had enough life forms on it for them all to Bond to safely-to keep it a secret from any they Bonded with as they gathered the necessary information-the knowledge that they would be joined in three years time...

_ But it’s been six... _ They looked up at her suddenly, Kailah felt a physical pain in her own chest as denial turned into despair and her throat tightened in response.  _ What if….what if- _

_ Don’t think about it.  _ She tried to soothe them, tried to push the rising emotions back down. _ We don’t know Zim. We can’t trust anything he says without proof. Maybe...maybe years on your planet are different than Earth’s? Like how Pluto takes half a century to make a single rotation? Maybe it hasn’t been three years there yet?  _ She felt like she was grasping at straws.

_...I...I don’t think that’s right... _ She could feel the sorrow swallowing her friend despite her best efforts to calm them.  _ W-we’re a hive mind Kay! I thought...I thought I couldn’t hear them because of how far away I was...but, what if...what if I can’t hear them because, because they’ve... _ The sorrow was almost unbearable, they looked up at her with shimmering black eyes then, all at once, the dam she had tried to build to hold back the negative feelings shattered.

_ Stop. Please. I can’t cry in class... _ Kailah pleaded silently as she ran the heel of her hand over her left eye and tried to sniff as quietly as she could as the emotions overflowed the chasm filling both their chests.

Her friend looked down for a moment, glanced at Zim, then stood up as they made up their mind.  _ I...I don’t think he’s going to do anything...and, I have to...at least try to… _ Their shape blurred and darkened as they melted into a liquid shadow. Kailah sat, looking at them confused, unable to predict their train of thought.  _ I have to at least try to... _ The shadow spilled off the desk and flowed over itself towards the door. It paused in front of Zim’s desk for a heartbeat or two-the other alien blinking down at them in confusion-before slipping under the door.

Kailah could feel her friend moving quickly through the halls, leaving the skool, transforming into their Velociraptor form, then take off running towards the east. All the while, the same thought kept repeating over and over as they picked up speed;  _ I have to at least try to reach the others, I can’t be all that’s left. I can't be...I can't be...I can’t... _

Zim gave her a curious look, one eye squinted suspiciously, the other large and round. Dib was still working on his diagrams, completely oblivious as Kailah wiped at her eye again. She tried to avoid eye contact with everyone as she laid her head down on her desk, buried in her arms, and refused to cry. 


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

When the bell rang to signal the end of the skool day, Dib watched as Zim was one of the first to bolt out of the room. No matter. He would deal with that alien jerk later. For now, Dib had dozens of questions for Kailah and  _ her  _ invisible alien friend!

He packed up the notes and diagrams he’d been working on since this new knowledge was brought to his attention. He was already planning on going into his dad’s basement lab to get the materials he’d need to build a prototype. He was feeling fairly confident that he could invent something to allow him to see this ‘Loughran’ thing (he  _ had  _ invented his own EMF detector, brought the dead back to life, programed their TV satellite dish to hook up to his laptop and listen to alien signals from space, along with several other complex lines of codes he’d used to hack into Area 51 only to find out all the  _ really  _ interesting stuff was actually kept in Area 52-whose security was still a bit too complicated for the twelve year old to actually hack into-so, something like this shouldn’t be  _ too  _ hard). After all, if Zim could see it, then it wasn’t just a host/parasite thing. It could be seen. You just had to have the right eyes-or  _ tools _ -to see it! And Dib was pretty confident in his abilities to create such a thing.

Dib swung his backpack over both shoulders then walked over to Kailah’s desk. He noted with a bit of confusion and a hint of concern that she hadn’t moved since before the bell rang. She still sat there, head resting in her arms like a pillow on her desk, bag on the floor opened and unpacked.

“Uh...everything ok?” He asked, feeling a little awkward as he looked down at her, shifting the weight of his bag on his back.

She raised her head up a little, blinking, her eyes slowly coming into focus (was it just him or did they look a little bloodshot?). She looked up at him for a moment before looking around the room slowly. “...Where…?”

“Class is over.” He said, assuming that was what she was asking. “Are you ok? You look a little pale...”  _ And her eyes...had she been crying? _

Kailah shook her head, as if to clear her thoughts, then tucked her hair behind her ears as she bent over to grab her bag and started packing up her books and blank notes.

Dib glanced around the room as she packed, one hand gripped at the shoulder strap of his bag as the other pushed his glasses up his nose. He found himself wondering where the Loughran was at this very moment. Maybe in the corner over there? Or perhaps the doorway? And what about Zim? Where was he off to in such a hurry? Why hadn’t he stuck around to finish what they’d all started at recess? Dib didn’t know much about the alien, but Zim didn’t exactly seem like the kind to just leave a fight unfinished.

Kailah stood up, pulling Dib from his thoughts. She pressed a hand onto her desk as if she needed the extra support, and slipped her bag over her free shoulder. “They ran off.” Her voice was quiet and thin, as if her throat was sore. But why? Had she really been crying? How hadn’t he noticed that during class.

“Yeah, I know.” Dib said in a clipped voice, looking towards Zim’s desk. It was probably best not to ask her about it, he wasn’t that good with handling other people’s emotions. “I thought about following him to see where he lives, but you promised to explain your whole alien situation-"

“Not Zim.” Kailah cut him off before she started walking-almost in a daze-towards the classroom door. “My Bondmate.” She explained. “The Loughran-or whatever Zim called them. They ran off.”

“Wait, really?” Dib followed after her, eager for answers to questions that had been building up for the past few hours. “But Zim said they were a parasite-”

“No they’re not!” Kailah snapped, whirling on Dib as she reached the doorway. He froze and couldn’t help but notice just how bloodshot her eyes really were, and she looked absolutely exhausted, like she hadn’t slept in days. She definitely hadn’t looked this bad during lunch-“They are not a  **parasite** ! Don’t call  _ them that _ !”

“Oh,” Dib blinked, taken aback by the sudden outburst-and suddenly uncomfortably aware of how close she was standing to him. “...Okay.” He leaned back a little and held his hands up slightly in surrender. He watched her closely.

Kailah sighed and rubbed her face tiredly with both hands as she turned and started walking again. “I’m sorry...” she muttered as her hands fell back to her sides. 

“It’s okay,” Dib said slowly as he started following her through the halls, more than a little curious at her sudden mood swings.  _ Probably has something to do with her alien. _ He tried to find a non-offensive way to word the question as they moved towards the front of the skool, “I just meant…If they’re ‘attached’ to you, how can they just…’run off’?” He didn’t actually use finger quotes, but it was very obvious in his voice.

Kailah pushed open the front doors of the skool and held it for Dib, refusing to make eye contact, she just stared out towards the street. She let the door go when they were both clear and didn’t say anything as they left the building and started down the stairs. 

Dib followed her, dozens of questions running through his head as the silence stretched:  _ How exactly does this ‘bonding’ thing work? If it’s not a parasite than what is it? Does it eat? Exactly how intimate is the whole mind reading thing? Can you feel physical stuff as well as emotional stuff? I think someone said something about shapeshifting? How big? How small? How complex? Is it just the shape or does it also get, like, special abilities? Like if this thing turned into a dragon could it breathe fire?! If it was bonded mentally, how far could it actually go from Kailah? Shouldn’t there be a maximum distance before...I don’t know, the bond broke or it was rubber banded back to her? How-or why-could Zim see it? What was so different about his eyesight? Is it really something I could recreate in a lab? Will I need to get my dad’s help? Would dad even help? I mean, he hates when I use his lab for my paranormal stuff, but the prototype I have in mind should be close enough to science for him, right? Man, I really want to see this alien thing! Why isn’t Kailah answering me?!  _ He looked over at her feeling irritated. He thought he’d asked a pretty simple question to start! But she just kept walking, head down and eyes on the ground! She couldn’t be  _ ignoring  _ him, right?? She’d promised to tell him!!

He tried to stamp down the all too familiar feeling of disappointment and bitterness sprouting from the realization; she probably only made that promise to make him promise not to say anything. He pushed his hands deep into his trench coat pockets and tried his best not to sulk. But he couldn’t help his brows furrowing or his lips pulling down into a frown as he glared down at the ground.

_ Maybe she was talking to it right now? _ He tried to reason as he glanced over at her.  _ She does seem pretty distraught about the whole thing-she hadn’t even realized when class had ended. And I’m seventy-two percent certain she had been crying earlier. And so far, I guess, she doesn’t really seem like she’s going back on her word...at least, she hasn’t out right told me to back off or leave her alone or anything... Maybe she just doesn’t know how to answer the question? _

So, Dib walked with her, holding his tongue, as he waited for her answer.

Okay, he bit down on his tongue  _ hard  _ to keep himself quiet as they walked.

Right as he was starting to debate reasking the question, on the off chance she hadn’t actually heard him the first time and was just waiting for him to start the interrogation; she finally spoke up.

“It’s cause of what Zim said.” Kailah finally said in a soft voice, about a block away from the skool. Dib looked at her intently as she spoke. “Zim said that: that the last he’d heard, the Loughran were all wiped out.” She looked at the sidewalk as she spoke. “Apparently, they’re a hivemind species. I didn’t know. They never told me. But apparently, they haven’t heard a whisper from the rest of their kind since arriving on Earth. And until Zim uttered those words, they just assumed that it was because of the distance from their home planet. But... _ now _ they fear that Zim is right. That they can’t hear anyone else because they’re the last of their kind. So...they had to check. Right there. In the middle of class. They just...had to go check. So, they ran off. They left me.” She wiped her eye with the back of a hand, though her voice sounded more bitter than anything else, and as far as Dib could see, her eyes were still dry. “I can still hear them, sort of. But the further they go the less I can feel them...just words, nothing physical, and almost nothing emotionally unless they consciously send it through the link.” She took a shaky breath in and let it out slowly, still refusing to look at Dib. 

“They said,” She continued, once her voice was steady again. “That we’re: ’Forever Bondmates’...it’s like, the perfect match?” She shrugged uncertainly. “Or something. Usually their kind switches Bonds as needed, but being Forever Bondmates means they can’t break or switch the bond even if they wanted to-whichtheypromisemethey _ don’t _ wantto.” She added in a shaky voice, half bitter, half desperate to believe her own words, her arms spreading out slightly as she grasped at the air. “But...we’ve never been this far apart before. What if the bond breaks if they get to far away? What if they can’t find someone else to Bond with? What if they  _ can _ ?! What if the distance starts to exhaust them-or  _ kill  _ them-and they can’t make it back?” She finally looked up at Dib, her eyes now shining and wet. “What if they get so far away that we can’t hear each other, or they get lost and can’t find their way back? What if I never  _ see  _ them again?” Her voice broke.

“Where are they even going?” He asked, trying to ignore the stab of pity he felt in his chest, while simultaneously mentally filing away that chunk of monologue to dissect for answers later. He really didn’t know what he would do if she started crying. The thought of fighting off ghosts and vampires made him feel brave, like he could do anything! But this? Seeing a person cry? He had no experience on how to handle that…

Dib then noticed that she’d answered the question of  _ ‘Why  _ the Loughran ran off’ rather than his original question of  _ ‘How  _ they  _ could  _ run off if they were Bonded to her’.

She sighed and looked down again, her shoulders sagging and her voice so sad. “To the ship they landed in.”

“Really?!” He couldn’t help the note of excitement enter his voice and the stupid grin that broke across face.  _ A real life alien spaceship! How  _ cool  _ is that! I wonder what it  _ looks  _ like!! How fast can it go?!  _

Kailah glanced at him and gave him a rueful smile, seeming to find regrettable enjoyment in his excitement despite all the negative emotions that were weighing her down. “All the way in Pennsylvania.”

“Seriously?!” Dib looked at her in disbelief. “But that’s like, hundreds of miles away?! Is it planning on running the whole way? Wouldn’t that take, like,  _ weeks _ ?!” Dib started running the numbers in his head. Assuming it ran twenty-five miles an hour-wait, how fast  _ could  _ it run?-and Pennsylvania was-wait, why was the ship in Pennsylvania?? Shouldn’t they have taken it with them when they moved here?!

She made a choking sound and twisted her head away from him. Dib felt his excitement shatter like a dropped vase at the sound. He let out a small sigh of his own and looked down at his feet, feeling guilty for some unknown reason.

“Is he...is he planning on leaving Earth? Going back to his planet, or…?” He let the sentence trail off softly.

“No,” Kailah shook her head, her voice tight and eyes on her feet as they walked. “ _ They _ ,”-she emphasized the pronoun-“are hoping to use the ship to send a signal or something back to their kind. They’re hoping it really is just the distance that is making it impossible to hear the rest of the hivemind. But, when they don’t hear anything back...then I know they’ll want to confront Zim to find out if he knows what happened.” She gripped her elbows, hugging herself, and her eyes squeezed shut momentarily. She turned her head away slightly and let her hair fall from behind her ear.

“And...what if they do hear back from their planet?” Dib asked, trying not to sound too pushy, but he was finally starting to get answers. He tilted his head a little to try and read her expression hidden behind the curtain of hair. “Will they want to go back, or summon others here, or-”

“They won’t.” Kailah almost whispered, but she sounded so certain, so unhappy. “They don’t want to admit it yet...but we both know the others are all dead.”

Dib looked at her curiously, “How?” He picked up his pace just the smallest amount so he was ahead of her and could see her face again.

“Because,” Kailah said, that note of bitterness entering her voice again as she sneered at the ground and gripped her arms tighter. “ _ Apparently _ . They were sent to Earth as a lead  **scout** . To gather  _ information  _ to help in some sort of  _ invasion _ .” She looked up and gave Dib a meaningful look as her tone took on a can-you-belive-this edge. It was the exact thing he had accused Zim of, before he even knew that this Loughran existed. "A small, follow up task force was supposed to arrive three years after the start of the mission... they've been on Earth for six years."

"Did...Did you know?" He asked, now almost walking backwards as he looked at her. Unable to help himself as he raised an eyebrow at her.

"No!" She spat as both arms flew out to her sides. She started walking faster in her anger, forcing Dib to turn back around and walk next to her. "I only just found out!” Her arms moved around to emphasize her words, almost smacking Dib in the chest a few times without even noticing. “Right before they ran off, they told me why they were here, on Earth, in the first place." She tightly crossed her arms again.

"You…” Dib hesitated, “Did you never  _ ask  _ before?!" He was  _ floored _ . How could she be  _ mentally  _ bonded with an  _ alien  _ and not know _ every single solitary thing about it _ ?! Like  _ why  _ it was even on  _ Earth  _ to begin with!!!

She sighed and rubbed at her face with both hands, something Dib was beginning to notice was a thing she did a lot. "No, I was six when we met.” She lowered her hands and looked at them., “I probably just assumed it was the start of a fairy tale story or something.” She let her arms fall to her side and sighed. “And by the time I was old enough to realize how silly that was, well, they were already such a normal everyday thing in my life. I never bothered to question it! When we first met, they told me we were a perfect match-something that is almost unheard of and impossible to find-it’s more like a myth or legend among their kind? And I was just...so happy to have a friend-an amazing, invisible, shapeshifting, alien-friend, that I never even  _ thought  _ to ask why they were even  _ on  _ this planet to begin with!" She let out a pathetic, almost crazed sounding laugh as she tucked her hair behind her ear. "They're talking to me...right now." She went quiet and her eyes glossed over as her face went blank. She looked down at the ground for a few moments as they walked.

Dib watched her, his own thoughts buzzing anew. He tried to put himself in her shoes, but he knew: even if he was the one to make contact at the age of six, he would have asked that alien every single question  _ then  _ that he wanted to ask it  _ now _ . He just,  _ couldn’t  _ understand why she hadn’t! Yeah, an alien friend would be  _ amazing _ , but how could she not want to know everything about it?!

"They're saying, that when they first landed on Earth, they 100% planned on fulfilling their mission...but then they met me. Their  _ perfect  _ Bondmate.”-She sounded a little scornful on that word and Dib raised an eyebrow-”So they quickly dropped their mission to simply enjoy being my protector…" she scoffed, "they’re saying they were actually happy when no one contacted them at the three year mark, because it meant they could just live-"

"What are you two even talking about?" Gaz asked casually.

Dib jumped slightly at the sudden appearance of his sister standing just behind them.

Kailah, however, yelped in surprise as she spun to face Gaz. She seemed to be so caught off guard that she tripped over her own feet when she started backpedaling half way through the turn. Dib turned his head just in time to see her stumble back a few steps as her arms went out to try and catch her balance. 

Unfortunately for her, her left foot slipped right off the sidewalk. Completely losing her balance, and-with arms flailing-Kailah started falling backwards into the street.

Dib, quickly and without thinking, reached out with both hands and grabbed her right arm, one hand firmly on her elbow, the other around her wrist. He gave a firm yank and brought her solidly back to her own feet on the sidewalk. About three heartbeats later, a large black pick up truck drove by slowly, the horn beeping loudly as the driver yelled something about 'stupid kids' before speeding off.

"Gaz!?" Dib let go of Kailah once her feet were steadily on solid ground, and spun to face his sister. He heard Kailah behind him start a quiet chant of 'I'm okay, I'm okay, I'm okay. It just scared me, I’m okay, I’m not hurt, I swear. I’m okay, I’m okay. Dib caught me, that truck was a mile away. I’m okay, I’m okay.'

"Yeah?" Gaz didn't even look up from her game.

"How long have you been there?!" Dib asked, dumbfounded and a little angry at how casual she was being about almost getting Kailah hit by a truck.

"Since we left skool, duh." She gave a casual shrug and kept tapping away at her game. "What are you two dorks even talking about?"

"Oh, uhhh…" His heart was still hammering a bit with leftover adrenalin. He looked over to Kailah who was still muttering that she was okay and there was plenty of time before that truck drove by, she wasn't in any danger,  _ really _ ! No, no, you do your thing cause that's  _ clearly _ important to you, I'm fine! I didn’t even  _ fall _ ! I just  _ slipped _ , I’m okay! "We were talking about...the plot of a book?" Dib tried unconvincingly, turning back to his sister.

"Uh huh." Gaz said, sounding like she wasn't actually listening as she played her game and started walking again. She glanced at Kailah as she passed her, one eye squinted almost shut-Kailah still muttering to herself-then Gaz went back to her game. "Remember, tonight's Family Dinner Night, Dib. Don't be late. Or else." She said without looking at him as she walked away.

"Uh...right…" he watched his sister walk off for a silent moment. When he felt she was out of earshot, he turned to Kailah. "Hey...are you okay?" He asked with genuine worry.

"YES! I AM  **_FINE_ ** !" She snapped at him. Dib winced and took a step back. Kailah let out a large, exhausted sigh and rub her face vigorously with both hands, like she was trying to wipe her emotions away. "Sorry…" She mumbled in a small voice with her face buried in her hands, sounding truly apologetic. "They're just filling my head with that same question over and over...I didn't mean to snap at you." She dragged her hands away and met his eyes, giving him a truly genuinely grateful look "Thank you, for catching me."

"Oh, yeah, of course! Any...time?" He replied awkwardly, looking away and pushing his glasses up to hide whatever expression was trying to force its way onto his face. These mood swings of hers were...confusing.

Kailah sighed again and adjusted her backpack, seeming too distracted to notice his struggle to keep a blank expression. "Was your sister really following and listening that whole time?" She glanced over at the retreating figure of his very terrifying sister, Gaz.

"Apparently," Dib half shrugged and watched his sister for a moment, "but you shouldn't worry about it. I'm sure she bought my lie about the book-plot thing." He said confidently. Even if she hadn’t, he knew she wasn’t one to spread rumors, so there was nothing to worry about.

Kailah made a small, unconvinced noise as she started walking again.

Dib walked with her, his mind buzzing as he tried regather his thoughts and think back over their conversation for a question he had had wanted to ask. 

"Oh!" He remembered now.

Kailah jumped slightly and looked at him with a soft frown.

"If Loughran are supposed to be completely invisible to all but their host-er-'Bondmate'...why do you think Zim can see them?" He asked, ignoring her frown.

Kailah blinked then gave him a thousand mile stare for a second before she lifted her shoulders very slowly in a shrug, then her eyes started to drift down to the sidewalk in thought. 

Dib watched her curiously as several different emotions seemed to dance across her face, all the while her eyes were completely unfocused. He could see there was curiosity and confusion in how her eyebrows twitched between relaxed and furrowed in deep concentration. Her lips seemed to twist and pucker between frowning in disagreement then curiosity.

If this is what a mental conversation looked like, how had he not noticed it a lot sooner? How had it taken him a whole month to suspect anything was different about her? 

But then, he’d never really talked to her or paid her any attention until yesterday...and the second he started that conversation; he  _ had  _ noticed how often she seemed to look towards the windows-towards the invisible alien. Maybe he just never looked closely enough before? But he was always so observant! That’s what made him such a great Paranormal Investigator! 

Maybe she was always actively hiding it before? And now that he knew her secret, she didn’t feel like she had to hide her emotions as she thought? Or maybe she never got  _ this  _ glossy-eyed before? Maybe because of the distance it was harder to communicate with the alien? Or maybe-

"Hmm... maybe?" She muttered under her breath, interrupting Dib’s train of thought. Her eyes refocused and she looked up at him. "We've never really experimented with it before, but we have played with the idea…" She looked around, seemingly now paranoid of eavesdroppers after the whole Gaz thing. "Thermal imaging." She whispered to him conspiratorially. 

"Like, heat signatures?" Dib grabbed the idea excitedly and ran with it, mentally adding to and modifying the blueprints he had made in class. It  _ was  _ one of the possibilities he had thought of, and the technology was easy enough to get ahold of. In fact, he probably had a thermal camera stowed away in one of his Paranormal Investigator Kits stored his closet! After all, they were pretty useful for hunting cryptids. The problem would be making it small and inconspicuous. If he wanted to use it to see the invisible alien without spilling the secret then he’d need to be able to use it without anyone knowing and questioning it.

Kailah nodded, "Yeah. Again, we haven't exactly had a way...or really a  _ need- _ to test that theory out. But they give off body heat. It's probably not as warm as a human, but it would most likely still show up on one of those high tech thermal imaging cameras." She shrugged, "Maybe Zim's species can see heat signatures or something?"

"That is completely possible!” Dib started bouncing a bit as they walked. “Aren't there animals on Earth that can see that sorta stuff, too? So it'd make sense that an alien could!"

"Mantis Shrimp," Kailah said suddenly and held up her hand to start counting, "pit vipers, mosquitoes...I think some birds, maybe?" She lowered her hand and thoughtfully looked up at the sky, "Though, that might just be ultraviolet light and the Earth's magnetic field? I'm sure there are others, but that's actually all that's coming to mind off the top of my head." She looked at him and shrugged apologetically.

"Mantis Shrimp?" Dib raised an eyebrow and gave her a confused look, it wasn’t anything he was familiar with.

"Oh yeah!" Kailah nodded and grinned (a familiar grin, that Dib himself often wore whenever he talked about Paranormal things, or anything else he knew a lot about and was excited to share with anyone he could get to listen), "they're not really shrimp, but they sorta look like them.” She held up her hands to indicate something the size of about four inches. “Super colorful too, and they have like, twelve cones in their eyes-humans-and most other animals-only have, like, 3? I think. Which means they can see, like,  _ everything _ !" She paused, tilted her head slightly, listening to something(?), then nodded. "They said if Zim has eyes like that, he could see more than just a heat signature! He could probably even see the Loughran exactly as I do, full detail color and everything. But, if you want to see them, a thermal imager would probably be the only way, since Human technology isn’t nearly advanced enough to let us see the way a Mantis Shrimp can."

Dib hummed thoughtfully and added Mantis Shrimp to his mental To Do list. “Okay, here’s another question. Well, actually, it’s the original question, but you sorta...glossed over it earlier.”

“Sorry.” She mumbled.

“It’s okay.” He said automatically, though he was actually okay with it, he got some answers to a few other questions he had had. “If they’re ‘bonded’ to you, how are they able to just, run off? Shouldn’t there be a distance limit or something?”

“Oh,” Her eyes unfocused again and she went silent.

Dib looked awkwardly around as he waited, he realized they were getting close to his neighborhood and felt that there were still loads of questions that needed to be answered. Then another thing dawned on him:  _ Does she even live in this direction? Or is she just so zoned out from everything that happened today she’s just following me home on autopilot? Or is she actually walking with me on purpose, to keep her promise of answering my questions? _

“Alright,” Kailah said, refocusing on Dib, “The answer is complicated, mostly because they have none. In the few bonds that they had before me, there was a ‘distance limit’. We’re guessing here, but thinking probably roundabout three football fields? If that distance was met, the bond snapped like a rubber band stretched too thin, at that point they simply found a new bondmate. But since we’re Forever-Bondmates, we never felt that stretching before. And we’ve also been a few miles apart before. Even right now, when they’re the furthest away they’ve ever been, the bond may feel different-quieter-but they say it’s nowhere near breaking. So they’re thinking, maybe, they could go as far as they need to…?”

“And if they can’t?”

She shrugged, her eyes getting that sorrowful look again.

Dib stuffed his hands back in his trench coat’s pockets and looked up as his house came into view, he could see Gaz walking up the front steps in the distance. 

“I still have a lot of questions.” He said, his eyes still on the house. “But we’re almost at my house. And my sister will kill me if I disrupt Family Dinner Night. So, do you have an email or something I could message you later tonight? Or would you rather I just write it all down for you to respond to tomorrow at skool?” He made his voice light and joking, but he was completely serious.

Kailah shrugged again. Dib noticed she was giving the electric fence around his front yard an odd look. “I could give you my email, but my family only has one computer...so I can’t be on it too late. And I’d also rather not have much of a papertrail if it can be helped…”

“Oh, right. Yeah, I guess that makes sense.” Dib paused on the sidewalk in front of his house and turned to face her, feeling a little awkward. “So I guess I’ll just save the questions for tomorrow?”

“Yeah, sorry.” She gave him an apologetic smile.

Dib tried to shrug as casually as he could. “No big, tomorrow then.” He tried to give her a reassuring smile but couldn’t help the feeling that it came across as disappointed. “Can I just ask one more question?”

She nodded.

“Does this alien of yours have a name? You keep referring to them as ‘they’ and ‘Bondmate’ and you’ve even used the term Zim did: ‘Loughran’? But...don’t they have, like, an actual name?”

Kailah let out a small laugh, though it sounded more tired than anything else. “They don’t…” When Dib just gave her a raised eyebrow she continued, “I guess, since they’re a hivemind, their kind doesn’t do names? Also, they can only Bond with one person at a time, so I guess their kind could refer to each other as ‘The one Bonded to so-and-so’ if they really had to point out an individual? Either way, I’m the only one who can talk with or see this one, and they know when I’m talking to them simply because I’m directing my thoughts or words at them. So we never really saw the need to come up with a name? I mean,” She shrugged. “When we first met, I asked them what their name was, and they said they didn’t have one nor a need for one. Since names are used to introduce oneself to others, or to get ones attention when you’re talking with them, it isn’t really something they needed?”

“Makes sense?” Dib said, though he didn’t completely get it. “Well...now that they have a need for introductions and non-telepathic communications…?”

Kailah simply shrugged.

“I mean,” Dib ran a hand through his hair as he tried to put it into words. “I’d like to have something I can call them? Cause ‘they’ can cause confusion by being too vague, and ‘Bondmate’ sounds too...intimate?-for me to use at least. And although Loughran sounds pretty cool, I’m sure it’s the equivalent of calling a person Human...or something like that.” He felt like he was starting to ramble so he forced his mouth closed and looked at her.

Kailah had that far away look again and just stood there in silence. Finally she nodded. “Chomp.”

“...Chomp?” He tried his hardest not to laugh. “Like, ‘chomp’?” He mimed taking a big bite out of a hamburger.

Kailah shrugged and smirked at him, silently admitting she agreed with him at its silly simplicity.

Dib shrugged, “Chomp, alright.” He smiled and took a hand out of his pocket. He waved good-bye over his shoulder as he headed up the path to his front door. “I’ll see you tomorrow at skool.” Kailah returned the farewell and watched as he placed his thumb on the dead-bolt of the door, the chrome lit up green and gave a happy ‘ding’ as it unlocked and swung in. 

He shrugged off his bag and placed it on the floor by the door. As he started kicking off his shoes, Dib reached for the door. As he started to close it, he noticed Kailah looking around the streets confused for a moment before she started walking away back down the sidewalk the way they had come.

So, she did follow him home.

***

This month’s Family Dinner Night it was Gaz’s turn to pick, so of course, the three of them were crammed into a dirty booth at Bloaty’s. Dib was nibbling on his second slice of pizza while Gaz was off playing games-and getting more tickets per token than should be humanly possible. Professor Membrane sat across from Dib, not touching any of the pizza so far. They both sat in awkward silence.

“So, Son. How was skool?” His father asked, his voice deep and trying to sound casual, but coming off more as awkward small talk. With half his face obscured by his lab coat, and his eyes hidden behind large blue goggles, it was difficult to tell exactly what emotions he was displaying. But, after a lifetime spent as his son, Dib had gotten pretty good at reading his father’s different cues: the twitch of an eyebrow, the wrinkle of a forehead, the twitch of a gloved finger. Really, trying to read his father’s emotional cues had made Dib an excellent face reader, which came in handy more often than you’d think. After all, it was what lead him to suspect Kailah was hiding something big, the way her eyes always darted towards the skool windows. Or how it was so obvious to him that Zim wasn’t even human since he lacked a lot of ‘normal’ Human facial features on top of his very abnormal skin color.  _ I guess having an emotionally distant dad is a great way to become a Paranormal Investigator; if it helps train me to spot lies and oddities in others. _

Dib shrugged keeping his eyes on his slice of pizza. “I think I made a new friend?”

“Oh?” Did he sound impressed? Or was it more skeptical? “Is that so?” Ah, both, leaning towards skeptical.

Dib nodded and put his pizza down,  _ guess I have to prove she’s real, just like all the other stuff I talk about. _ “Yeah, her name’s Kailah and-”

“Her?” Okay, now he definitely sounded both impressed and incredulous, one of his eyebrows arched over the top of his goggles in intrigue. 

“Yes, dad, her.” Dib sighed, trying his hardest not to grind his teeth and keep his voice level as he spoke. “She’s also into Paranormal stuff like me. In fact, she told me she’s had several first hand experiences with ghosts!”

Professor Membrane sighed and shook his head, then he seemed to catch himself and cleared his throat, one gloved fist held several inches from the spot on his collar where his mouth was hidden. “Well,” he lowered his hand again and met Dib’s eyes. “at least you’re making friends. So, that’s good.”

Dib just went back to staring at his pizza, talking to his dad was always like this. The man just did not know how to talk to his own kids. Dib slouched into his side of the booth and crossed his arms as Gaz ran up to the table.

“Hey, dad.” She said as she grabbed a slice of pizza from the box in the center of the table. “Can I have some more tokens?”

“Of course, Daughter!” He sounded all too enthusiastic to have a distraction from his conversation with Dib. He reached into his labcoat’s breast pocket and handed her a neatly folded twenty. “Enjoy!”

“Thanks.” She took the money and walked off, eating the pizza.

Dib sighed and slouched further into his seat, unhappily watching all the other kids running around and playing games.

His father made a soft ‘tsk’ noise, which Dib knew instantly meant he didn’t approve of Dib’s posture, and Dib also knew it meant that if he looked up at his dad right now his eyebrows would be touching in that disapproving way. 

Which meant Dib kept his eyes focused on the nearest game cabinet-a cartoony version of whack-a-mole that used alligator heads instead of moles and laughed every time the kid playing with it managed to slap one of the gator’s mouths shut. He probably would have set it on fire if he had that ability to with how hard he was staring at it.

“Don’t you want to join your sister, Son?” His father tried a moment later, once it was obvious that Dib wasn’t going to correct his posture. “It is Family Dinner Night, after all.”

“No,” he folded his arms tighter over his chest, “I don’t really feel like it.”

Professor Membrane made a non-committed hum in the back of his throat. Then the two of them sat in awkward silence for several minutes.

“Hey, dad?” Dib asked, once his sour mood had cooled enough.

“Yes Son?” He responded a little too enthusiastically and sitting a little straighter-if that was even possible.

“When we get home, can I borrow the basement lab? I uh, have a special project I want to work on.”

“But of course! What project do you have in mind? I hope it’s not another Electromotive Force Detector, or any other such paranormal nonsense.” He said, waving a gloved hand dismissively.

Dib sighed. “No, it’s a uh…” What would it be called? How exactly could he explain it to his dad without making it sound super obviously paranormal in any way? “I want to see if I can build a um, pair of goggles, or something...that could let a person see like a Mantis Shrimp?”

“Like a what?” Professor Membrane asked, his brow furrowing in confusion instead of disapproval for once.

“A um, Mantis Shrimp?” He shrugged, that was what it was called right? “Kailah told me about them-she’s the friend I was telling you about. Apparently they have twelve color receptors in their eyes, or something? They can literally see everything, normal visible light like us of course, but also ultra violet, heat signatures, uh…” He trailed off, trying to remember what else she’d said.

“And I bet you’re hoping something like that will let you, what?” He arched an eyebrow, “See ghosts or fairies or other such nonsense?” His dad sighed and shook his head, seemingly disappointed as always that his son wasn’t more into ‘ _ Real Science _ !’.

Dib felt his face grow hot in embarrassment and a little bit of anger, “No. Well, maybe...but I bet it could be really helpful for science too! Like uh...helping color blind people? Or um…the police? Or better TV quality?” He knew he was grasping at straws but he really couldn’t think of anything else. He hated that he always had to come up with scientific reasons to convince his dad to let him use the lab.

“Alright,” His dad agreed with a sigh. “I’ll help you with this little ‘project’ of yours. I’ve run into a bit of a roadblock with my current project anyway. So maybe this silly little toy of yours will help me clear my mind enough to come up with a solution for more important things.”

“Thanks, dad.” Dib mumbled and let his arms relax and fall to his side, though he remained slouched in the booth. He hadn’t actually expected to have his dad volunteer to help him build it, he usually just agreed to let Dib borrow the lab and give him free range for a few hours. 

With his father’s help, Dib could actually have the goggles perfected in a single night! 

Later that night, with Gaz up in her room (organizing the new toys she had won with all her tickets), Dib and his father went down to the basement to begin work. Dib showed his dad all the updated blueprints and notes he’d made in class and modified after talking with Kailah. He tried to suppress the enthusiasm he always felt when working on a project-especially with his father-as he attempted to explain his ideas and end goal in what his father would refer to as a ‘calm and Scientific(!) mind’. 

He also pulled up a few different scientific journals he found online talking about Mantis Shrimp eyes. Couriously, Professor Membrane seemed really interested in the papers once he started reading them. He sat in silence for a few minutes as he skimmed through the published diagrams and explanations on how-and what-a Mantis Shrimp could see. Meanwhile, Dib laid out his own notes on the countertop and tried to arrange them in order of most likely to work without being too bulky. He then started gathering the supplies he’d think he’d need to build the device that he hoped would let him see the Loughran. 

Originally, he was thinking of just building a thermal imaging camera into his glasses, something simple and hands free, and subtle enough that other people wouldn’t see or question it. But after hearing that Zim could probably see the Loughran in full color and detail, Dib also wanted that. Plus, with his dad’s help, it should be fairly easy to build something like that. The hard part would be making it small enough to go unnoticed by other people.

The two of them ended up working late into the night-neither of them feeling tired in the least-as they found themselves enjoying working together and they seemed to be bonding over the challenge of building this ‘silly little science project’.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope y'all enjoyed this Dib pov featuring Loughran lore and Irken headcanons!  
> Also, Kailah is too embarrassed to admit it to Dib, but the name Chomp has actually been around for a few years, just mostly unused cause there isn't really a need to call the Loughran by name. So, she's just gonna pretend she only just now thought of it lol  
> Please don't forget to comment!   
> Next chapter is all Zim! With more lore 8D


	8. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From last chapter: Let’s all ignore the fact that Zim never learned Dib’s name >_>;  
> (Or the fact that Dib should definitely not know about Loughran being able to shapeshift… Cause that is uh…my mistake lol) I promise going forward we shouldn't have any more continuity issues like this (if there are, please let me know! I'm trying my best to keep it all straight)  
> EDIT: Due to a technical issue of me forgetting how cameras work, I have removed a few sentences saying that Zim could see the Loughran in Kailah's family photos

**Chapter 7**

When the bell rang to signal the end of skool, Zim was ready. After observing the horrible hyumans all day, he noticed that as the clock moved closer to three, even though the horrid Tall teacher-drone was still talking; the students were packing up and watching the clock on the wall (similar to how they had prepared for the bell that signaled it was time for foodening). So when it ticked to 3 and the bell rang, Zim was ready. Before the bell was even done, Zim was up and out.

After all, he had very important plans, and he couldn't risk that horrible Dib-stink or that...girl with the Loughran-did Zim ever actually catch her name? No, he hadn’t, not that he needed to know it to destroy her. He couldn’t let either of them mess with his Mission or risk them exposing him any further. 

_First! Zim will follow them to their places of living and plant spy cameras._

_Then! Zim will return to my base and observe them through the night for weaknesses._

_Then! Eh...Zim will probably kill them or something? Zim will figure that part out later._ He waved a hand dismissively as he quickly marched to the front doors. He was certain that the two horrible hyumans would be expecting some sort of retaliation from him after what happened during the Mandatory Outside Time. So, Zim just had to subvert their expectations!

...By getting as far away as possible. 

This way he could spy from a distance! Gathering information was an important part of Irken Invasion, after all.

Zim kept a _brilliant_ look out for the Loughran as he went. That parasite had left not long after they all returned to the classroom, and it seemed to have left in a hurry. _What was it planning?_ It couldn't have gone far, it's host was still inside the building. Perhaps it thought it could ambush Zim outside the skool? Well! He wouldn’t give it the chance!

Passing through the front doors, Zim quickly moved down the stairs then cut around to the side of the skool. After making sure he was out of sight, and there was no sign of the Loughran; he deployed his PAK legs and scaled up the side of the building, making it to the roof in a matter of seconds. He quickly moved around the parimitar of the building-his PAK legs carrying him quickly and smoothly along the rim of the roof. Zim thoroughly scanned the surrounding area for any signs of that _parasite_ before he finally stopped to perch on the edge of the roof over the front doors and returned the metal legs to his PAK.

_Hmm...I don't see that Loughran anywhere? Where could it have gone?_

He looked around at the surrounding buildings and even up at the sky for a few more moments. _Perhaps it moved on to a new host?_ He couldn’t be certain of that until he confirmed it though. Until then, Zim planned on keeping an amazing Irken eye out for that alien. He had to assume it was nearby at all times. He couldn’t let his guard down even for a nanosecond-

He looked down when he heard the double doors open followed by loud cheers. Zim watched as the building began emptying of the ugly, loud, smelly, disgusting Urth Smeets.

Zim sat there as the minutes stretched by, searching the rowdy crowd with narrowed eyes.

Eventually the flow of Urth Smeets slowed to a trickle and then stopped. 

_That couldn’t be right? This was the only exit, wasn’t it? Where’d they go? Had Zim somehow missed them? No! That was impossible! Zim had been watching those horrid Urth Smeets very closely, there’s no way the Dib-stink or host-girl would have slipped past me! Were they still inside?...Oh! There they are._ **_Finally_ ** _._ He scoffed. _How dare they keep_ **_Zim_ ** _(!) waiting!_

The Dib-stink, the parasite's host, and that purple haired girl from before, all exited the building together. Zim watched as they left the skool yard, turned right on the sidewalk, and started walking away.

He lowered himself quickly and silently from the building thanks to his PAK legs. Then he started following the hyumans on foot from a great distance. After a block, it became obvious that Zim wouldn’t be able to gather any useful information from this distance. (Plus, if they turned a corner there was the possibility of losing them.) Thus, Zim decided he could move faster and more unseen if he used the roof tops, so that's what he did. 

He moved and crossed the street-easily dodging and ignoring the honking primitive hunks of metal that were the poor excuses of transportation on this planet as he did-before crawling up the to the roofs of the buildings on the other side. Zim ran across the roofs to catch up, easily making the jumps between buildings thanks to a combination of PAK legs and jetPAK boosters. He moved almost parallel to the trio, keeping back just enough so they wouldn’t notice him. 

He could keep a much better eye on them from this distance. Zim was able to easily distinguish body language and facial expressions, too bad he still couldn't _hear_ them through this _stoopid_ plastic wig! 

And so what if he actually didn’t know enough about hyuman body language or facial expressions to actually properly translate anything he saw? He was Zim! And he was an Elite Irken Invader!

He would simply make an educated guess.

So far it appeared that the host-girl was fairly upset, while the Dib-stink seemed to hang onto her every word. Meanwhile the purple haired one followed a few paces behind, all attention glued to that handheld device she seemed to always be carrying.

_Note to self: Check out hypnotic possibilities of handheld devices._

Zim followed them tirelessly, easily keeping pace with their slow walking. After a few blocks, he noticed with some confusion that the Loughran still hadn't reappeared. Maybe the parasite _had_ left to form a bond with something else? Since its hyuman host had exposed it? What was it even doing on Urth, anyway? Zim could have _sworn_ they were all wiped out. Zim would have to do some research when he got back to his base, but he was almost certain the Irkens _had_ wiped them all out several cycles ago. Maybe it came here before-

Zim's thoughts were interrupted as the host-girl suddenly lost her footing and fell backwards towards the street with a sharp cry. Zim paused on the roof of a Corner Store and ducked down to keep out of view as he watched. A rather large black vehicle with an empty bowl sticking out of its back end hit their brakes a few yards away from the group. The Dib-stink-with speed Zim didn't think a lazy, stupid hyuman could move with-reached out, grabbed her arm, and quickly yanked the host-girl back to safety. 

Zim made a disappointed _tsk_ noise with his tongue against his teeth, _So close_. A thought popped into his head at that moment and he quickly scanned the area with his superior Irken eyes.

That settles it, then. The Loughran was gone. No way that parasite would still be in hiding after a near injury to its host! Hmm...this could change the plans a bit? 

No.

The host-girl still suspected Zim, and the Dib-stink still did too. Zim would still have to eliminate the threat to his Mission. Now it just meant that they didn't have another alien hanging around to be an obstacle. So the advantage was Zim's!

The purple haired girl split off and walked away, leaving the other two standing and talking (The host-girl yelled something like “I’m fine!”). But Zim watched the purple haired girl suspiciously for a moment. So far he hadn't had any interaction with her. How much did they tell her? She wasn't in their class, yet she sat with them at foodening. She also disappeared during the Mandatory Outside Time, yet she left skool with these two. Not really enough time for much information to be shared, but...they still would have had time to tell her about _Zim_. 

Who was she? What did she _know_?

One of his PAK compartments opened up and a small, silver drone-the size and shape of a marble-shot out and landed in Zim's waiting gloved claws. He glanced at it, then back at the purple haired one before tossing the silver drone towards her. As it flew through the air, it unfolded into a flying camera and followed from above.

Zim turned his attention back to the other two still below him, they were just standing there, talking. Oh, how Zim _wished_ he could hear them!! But of course, if he removed this confounded wig and some _stoopid_ hyuman happened to see him, he would be exposed! He gritted his teeth in frustration.

The Dib-stink seemed concerned(?) while the host-girl seemed...angry(?), scared(?)...whatever the emotions, they were both weak for expressing them!

Finally, they started moving again, and Zim continued to follow from the roofs opposite. After several more blocks and a turn-they arrived at a house with a curiously visible electric fence around the front yard. Zim found he was actually slightly impressed by the defensive possibilities of such a fence. He even found himself playing with the idea of installing something similar at his base-in addition to his guard gnomes. Something like that would definitely deter unwanted hyumans. 

After another bout of talking-that Zim ruefully wished he could eavesdrop on-the Dib-stink finally approached the house with a wave goodbye, leaving the host-girl alone on the sidewalk. 

Zim released half a dozen more of his spy drones, as he did, he realized one was already here. _Ah! The purple haired girl must live here too! So, she was related to the Dib-stink somehow then? This may change plans a bit...?_

Well, at the very least, it just meant one more hyuman Zim would have to get rid of. Maybe just wipe out the whole family unit to be safe. A big fiery explosion of the whole house would be lovely.

The host-girl stood in front of the house for several moments after that, looking up and down the street. Moving in slow circles, she spun with a confused look on her face. Zim had to duck down onto his belly to stay out of view as she looked around not only at street level but up at the houses around her as well. 

Was she looking for the Loughran? Surely if it severed the bond she’d know it was gone for good, why bother trying to see it? Had she spotted Zim out of the corner of her eye and was trying to spot him again? 

_No! Impossible! Zim was a master of stealth!!_

After the fourth spin around, she finally seemed to come to some sort of decision and started walking again.

Zim slowly rose back to his feet and followed the host-girl as she wondered back up the sidewalk...the same way they had come? She moved slowly with her head down and feet dragging. Zim could see her lips moving, but knew there was no way he'd be able to hear her from the rooftops. He thought about sending a spy drone down to eavesdrop, he hadn’t done so earlier due to the fact that more hyumans meant his drones were more likely to be spotted (and not because he hadn’t thought of it before now, nope. It was definitely because of that other reason, yes, sir!). Since she was alone, she wouldn’t notice a single drone following her. Zim wouldn’t be able to hear what she was saying right now, but when he got back to his base he could play back the recording and know what she is saying. 

Unfortunately, when he mentally reached into his PAK to summon a drone, he discovered that he'd sent all of them out at the Dib-stink's house.

 _Flirk it all!_ Zim growled in frustration and kicked at a loose shingle at his feet. 

_No matter! Zim will simply follow the horrid girl to her place of living!_ Then, he would go to his base and remotely send more spy drones later! He would only miss out on a small portion of spying. Until then, he would simply have to keep a close eye on her!

And thus, Zim continued to follow her all the way back to skool.

 _Wait, What?_ **_Why_ **?!

He squinted at her suspiciously from his rooftop vantage point as they arrived back at the skool. Zim watched as she paused on the sidewalk by the front gates, looked around, then turned 180 degrees and _started walking back the way she had just come_ !!? **WHAT**??! 

Zim followed along the same rooftops for the third time, frustration and confusion growing as he glared down at the host-girl. _Surely she didn’t know Zim was following her?! What is this strange madness!_ After walking the same three blocks again, she finally took a new side street and started walking away. 

Zim had to quickly deploy his PAK legs, climb down from the Corner Store, stealthily cross the street, then quickly climb back up the row of houses on the other side to catch up and follow her. Where was she going? What was she planning? Why all this _flirking_ backtracking?!

Zim followed her down this new street-hopping easily between rooftops. He observed that she still seemed to be talking to herself? _Oh, how Zim wished he could hear her!_ What was she saying? Was she talking with the parasite? Or just to herself? He hadn't spotted the Loughran since it ran off in the middle of class. But maybe the bond was still intact? But then where _was_ the parasite?! Zim glanced around, his paranoia and frustration growing, he still could not see a single hint of that alien parasite! 

When Zim looked back down to his target, that’s when he noticed that the host-girl seemed to be losing a bit of her coordination? Zim watched as she routinely seemed to trip or stumble over loose stones or uneven cracks in the sidewalk...or seemingly nothing.

 _Curious_...

He narrowed his eyes and picked up his pace as he followed her. The host-girl turned down another street-thankfully this time on the side Zim already stood-so he didn’t have to cross the street again. Unfortunately, they made their way into a neighborhood where the houses started to get smaller and more spread out. Narrow alleyways giving way to large swaths of grass and trees between buildings. Annoyed, Zim was forced to move down to ground level as jumping between buildings unnoticed soon became impossible. He began following at a greater distance to remain out of sight.

After about a dozen of these houses passed by, the host-girl turned towards a beige colored house, this one was smaller than the Dib-stink's, but still two stories with reasonable living space. Zim watched-from behind a tree a few houses down-as the girl opened a box on a metal post by the corner of the sidewalk. She pulled out several pieces of paper and tucked them under her arm before closing the box and approaching the house. Zim watched and waited for her to go inside, wanting to confirm this was indeed her place of living. 

Zim then took a quick look around the surrounding area for confirmation that the Loughran was still nowhere to be seen, and to memorize where he’d have to send the drones later. He then summoned GIR to come pick him up. 

When he arrived back to his base, he marched straight to the toilet in the kitchen, removing his disguise as he went. He ordered GIR to stay above ground and guard the base. 

Zim had work to do.

***

Zim sat in a large, plush, purple chair in front of his main console-far below ground under his base. He was _finally_ out of that ugly, itchy, and unbearably uncomfortable hyuman disguise. His antenna were finally free to wiggle as they please, and his eyes no longer irritated him with every blink. He was looking up at the giant monitor which took up most of the wall. It was currently split into multiple video feeds. 

The top left corner was all static- _apparently_ , the purple haired one had destroyed the spy drone shortly after Zim had deployed it. There wasn't much on the recording before the feed went dead, all it showed was the spy drone following the girl into the house, then it went off line with no indication on what destroyed it.

Zim sighed, at least the rest of the spy drones were still intact.

The left half of the screen-minus that top corner- showed all different angles of the Dib-stink's place of residency. Multiple pictures with a variety of combinations of Dib, the purple haired girl, and a Taller male (who always seemed to be dressed like he was fresh out of a laboratory) decorated the walls throughout the first floor. There were bookshelves filled with all sorts of scientific journals and doctorits as well as plaques and science trophies. There was a slew of very high tech (for hyumans, anyway) gadgets laying around all in varying stages of creation.

The cameras covered the living room, kitchen, several bedrooms, and the front yard/driveway/garage area. 

Right now, however, the house sat empty and quiet. 

Shortly after Zim had returned to his base and settled down in his chair, the Taller parental unit announced it was time to go to ‘Family Dinner Night’, and they filed into a hover car and left. Zim was tempted to send at least one spy drone after them, but he didn't want to risk that purple haired menace destroying another one. He could easily build more, but it would take a few days and he had more important things to focus on. 

So, for now, Zim watched the right side of the monitor, where several cameras displayed the building the host-girl lived in. He was missing about fifteen minutes between her arrival home and his deployment of the spy drones, but so far he saw no evidence that she had spoken about-or reported on-Zim's existence. 

The host-girl’s house was much less decorated, there were a few scattered photographs of her at a much younger age hanging on the wall by the staircase. There were also a couple shots of her parental units at varying ages and stages of their relationship. All the furniture looked brand new, while most the shelves were empty of knick-knacks.

The walls of each room were painted different colors, the living room being a light teal, the kitchen white, one bedroom light green and white, and the other gray and white. But other than that, there were a lot less personal touches throughout the house than at the Dib-stinks’. There were a few boxes sitting against a wall in a few of the rooms that appeared to still hold many things. Zim briefly pondered what mysteries they may hold.

One camera showed the male parental unit in the kitchen, preparing a meal for the family, he was softly whistling a tune that was only _slightly_ better than something GIR would come up with. The second camera sat in a corner of the living room, giving a perfect view of the whole room, the entrance to the kitchen, the front door, and the staircase. Outside, a camera showed the female parental unit pulling into the driveway and exiting her car. 

There were actually two cameras outside here, and instead of being stationary-like all the other cameras at both houses-these cameras were floating around, circling the house in opposite directions of one another. One was using thermal imaging, while the other was in normal view mode-both searching for any signs of the Loughran. 

The last camera was perched on the wall of the host-girl's sleeping quarters, above the closet and with a perfect view of the bedroom door, window, and the host-girl’s bed.

The host-girl lay fully clothed-including her filthy, disgusting, smelly shoes-on top of her bed, arm draped dramatically over her face. Zim could see her mouth moving, but even with his wig finally off, and the volume maxed on the computer he couldn't make any of the words out. He was growing frustrated as he played with the volume settings on the console. He could _clearly_ hear her breathing, and the sounds of the other hyumans in the house came through as clear as if Zim was standing in the room with them! So, _obviously_ , there was no issue with his drone! Why couldn’t he hear what she was saying!

 _Ah!_ It finally clicked. _She must be lip speaking! Or...something. She’s not actually talking out loud, that must be why Zim can’t hear her at all! ...Very strange._

Zim tapped on the console to bring up a keyboard then began typing out a code to hopefully create a lip reading program. While he waited for that to process and translate he looked up at the ceiling.

“Computer!” Zim snapped.

“...What.” It replied in a bored tone.

“Give Zim all the information on Loughran!”

“There isn’t that much.”

“Zim does not care! Do as I say!”

“Whatever.” A small screen appeared out of the wall to Zim’s right and moved to his eye level. The screen lit up and Irken lettering started filling the screen. Zim scanned the words, reading the report quietly.

The Computer wasn’t exaggerating, there really wasn’t that much. At least, not compared to other known alien races in the database. There was only a few screens worth of information, all of it recorded from either Vortian or Irken scientists. There were no first hand history documents from the Loughran themselves. There was also no native language listed, no history of space exploration before first contact was made, no history of written-well-anything, no art, no religion, no architecture. Almost like they didn't exist before outside contact was made? _How very unusual..._

According to these records, the Loughran didn’t have a name for themselves or their planet before the Vortians landed and named them and it? It appears they may not have even had a language at all before the Vortians taught them theirs? How was that possible? Zim clearly remembered hearing reports that they were intelligent-well, as far as parasites go-then again, the one he had met here on Urth didn’t seem all that smart. Very beast-like, and stupid enough to let it’s host attack an Irken Elite! Then attacking said Irken itself. Then abandoning its host while said Elite was still in the same room...

He glanced up at the monitors, the host-girl still layed there, lip-speaking. Why would the parasite do such a thing? Why act protective, then abandon the host shortly after? Why did it seem like the Bond was still intact? 

_Hmmm_.

He scrolled past the brief overview and read further.

The Vortians side of the record reported that the planet appeared to be a wasteland, just rocks, black soil, and cold darkness. The closest star was a little over a third of lightyear away, almost qualifying it as a rogue planet. Except it seemed to have a clear orbital pattern-just not clear on _what_ exactly it was orbiting? 

_Odd_... 

It had no moon, no other planets nearby, no sun it could calm as its own, and no signs of life. The planet itself wasn’t exactly in the middle of nowhere, as it was a few days travel outside Vort’s territory. However, it was mostly overlooked due to its inhospitle appearance-after all, why bother terraforming a hunk of rock, when there were plenty of other life sustaining planets nearby. It took several centuries after it was first discovered, before the Vortians actually got curious enough to send an exploration team to chart it.

Zim didn’t have access to the full report of that landing party, but, according to the brief summary that had been translated by an Irken scientist: shortly after landing, several of the scientists reported feeling like they were being watched constantly, even though their scanners showed no signs of life. 

_HA! Inferior Vortian technology! Zim is positive that_ Irken _tech would have picked up signs of those parasites right away!_

The Vortians soon determined that the atmosphere of the planet was safe and the temperature seemed to be pleasant despite the lack of a star. The landing party removed their helmets and began gathering samples. Not long after, a Vortian scientist by the name of Root Sar, was said to report having hallucinations. He started shouting something about his pet snoofler suddenly appearing in front of him, and a strange voice asking questions in his head. The other scientists quickly replaced their helmets and dragged Root Sar back to the ship for examination.

It was later determined that Root Sar wasn’t insane or poisoned or anything else. He had, instead, been infected by an invisible native species of the planet. The report Zim had, skipped over the hours of interrogations, experiments, research, arguments, and denial that the scientists must have gone through before coming to their final conclusion.

The conclusion of the Vortian's research, was that the planet had a fairly large, and invisible hivemind entity. That-up until the arrival and First Bond with the Vortian was made-simply existed as a single mindless invisible liquid shadow...thing. 

It did not eat, it did not sleep, it did not appear to have any internal organs, it did not age, it did not get sick, it did not do anything a normal living sentient thing would do. It simply existed. 

After the First Bond was made, the entity understood language, the entity understood the concept of individuality, the entity understood the concept of society, the entity understood and developed intelligence, and the entity understood ‘life’ as a concept. 

It split into several shadows and formed bonds with the remaining scientists, gaining more knowledge and understanding from the different perspectives as its intelligence grew. And-over the course of centuries-the more it split and the more Bonds it formed, the more individualized each portion of itself became, gaining their own personalities and identities while still maintaining the hivemind. It was evolving at hyperspeeds. 

Zim shivered. He could see why the Empire saw these things as a threat.

Over the next three centuries, the Loughran developed their own planet: constructing buildings, developing technologies, created their own society and culture, and-with the help of the Vortians and other alien allies that they met through the Vortians-the Loughran started exploring space. 

It didn’t take long to discover that the Loughran could not leave their home planet without forming-and holding-a Bond with another alien. Something to do with the magnetic field of their planet(?)-the Irken Scientist translating the Vortian records noted that the _inferior_ aliens had not bothered to test or experiment the exact reason for fear of ‘killing the Loughran’-or some other such sentimental nonsense. 

So, unfortunately, the real reason was unknown, or, at the very least, unwritten.

What the Vortians did write was that; if the Loughran left the surface of their home world without a Bond-or severed a Bond while they were away-they would slowly die within thirty minutes. Unless they Bonded with another lifeform-here the Irken Scientist notated that _again_ the Vortians did not give an _actual_ scientific reason for this. But the Irken Scientist guessed that the Loughran were using the life force of the other aliens to survive. 

Thus, the almighty and superior intelligence that was Irk, dubbed the Loughran a parasite. 

They formed and broke Bonds with the Vortians and other aliens as needed-it was the only way they could be seen by, and communicate with, their allies. But this also quickly gave the Loughran access to each of the different races knowledge and secrets, strengths and weaknesses. 

A lot of information that these races didn’t willingly share off their own planet. 

And that is why the Control Brains and the Almighty Tallest had marked the Loughran as a threat to the empire. They were the ultimate spy.

 _But how would this particular Loughran have made it all the way to Urth? If the mighty Irken race was hunting them down, and it can’t travel off it’s home planet without a Bond...did someone bring it here? How long has it been on this planet?_ Zim sat and thought for a moment, looking back up at the large monitor. He saw the host-girl still lip speaking, her parental units busying themselves with unimportant things downstairs, and the Dib-stink’s house still stood empty.

Zim’s thoughts momentarially drifted to one possibility, but he quickly dismissed it. There was no way that host-girl was an alien...well, she _was_ , but she was also definitely native to Urth. So perhaps there was another alien on this planet that Zim wasn’t yet aware of? He put that thought in a file in his PAK to go back to later, then turned back to finish the report.

It was a little less than twenty years ago when Irk finally learned of the Loughran’s existence. Even though Irk was previously one of the allied planets with Vort, the knowledge of the Loughran was never shared with them. _Apparently_ , the Vortians did not trust the Irkans enough...or perhaps it was the Loughrans who did not trust the Irkans? The report did not say, but from what Zim knew of Vortians, the latter seemed more likely. 

Vortains loved sharing their knowledge and tech with _everyone_. Why would they keep this a secret from a supposed ally?

Especially since they shared the existence of Loughran with their other allies?

When Irk secretly broke off their alliance with Vort and prepared to invade the planet, Irkens that were sent to infiltrate the planet reported seeing shadows and hazy spots in their visions that seemed to follow them. Something was constantly in the corner of their eyes but never truly in sight and it made their paranoia skyrocket. 

The Control Brains and Irk’s top scientists came up with a new implant for the soldier's eyes that allowed them to see an even wider range of the color spectrum than previous models-and that was where the Loughran resided. The new implants were quickly distributed to every Irken-Zim still shivered at the memory of his own upgrade-and it wasn't long after that, that Vortian and Loughran alike were discreetly taken by the Irkens to a secure location for questioning.

The Tallest soon made the final decision to eradicate the parasite. They didn't like the idea of an almost invisible spy/parasite/shapeshifting/pest, especially one that seemed to be able to gather any information it wanted from its host and simultaneously report it to the rest of its kind thanks to their hivemind. Something like that could quickly out compete-or ruin-the Mighty Irken Empire.

Zim had missed that particular war, due to being stuck on Foodcourtia. But he remembered hearing all the different rumors and news reports. An odd one in particular was about the Vortian's begging and pleading on behalf of the mute Loughran, trying to claim that the parasite was no threat. Zim also distinctly remembered hearing that the Loughran either failed or refused to form Bonds with any of the Irkens that were sent to their planet-though he noticed there was no mention of that on the screen in front of him. 

Curious...was that rumor untrue, or was it simply omitted from the official report? 

He scrolled down a little further. There wasn't much else documented. As far as basic physiology, limitations, or weaknesses, it was all very vague. Their true shape was listed as a liquid shadow like thing, though they often took the shape of something that their host found pleasing so as not to be rejected when forming a Bond.

 _Then what on_ Irk _was that_ monstrosity _!? Are you trying to tell Zim that that hyuman host-girl finds giant feathery, clawy, toothy, monsters_ **_pleasing_ ** _?! What on Irk!!?_

Zim blinked and glanced up at the host-girl on the monitors. The decoration in her room did not portray any such preferences...

He hummed in disgust and turned back to the report. The only limitations listed-besides the dying within 30 minutes thing-was a small note that they _probably_ couldn’t do anything past taking the form of something dangerous. As there were no records of them actually becoming venomous or spitting acid or shooting spikes (though Zim clearly remembered that parasite having very sharp and pointy claws). And that was also considered their biggest weakness, because it meant that any shape they took that had-for example-armor, was simply for show. The Loughran had no natural defenses, and although they could not die of old age or disease or anything of the like, they very easily fell to Irken fire power. 

And that was all that the report held. From start to finish, Zim was able to read the entire history of the Loughran in less than twenty minutes. Truly a very underwhelming source of information. 

He propped his head up on one hand, staring at the screen. Zim was very disappointed in the Vortians lack of curiosity and experimentation. And, although he wouldn’t admit it out loud, the fact that Irk hadn’t been correct in the complete genocide of the parasite was a little disappointing as well. Zim would have to report this to the Tallest.

Zim dismissed the screen with a casual wave of his free hand then turned his attention back to the large monitor, he'll deal with all that later. He noticed that the host-girl had fallen asleep...even though Zim could clearly see the sun was still out? Zim sat up straight and checked the other screens, the male parental unit had not yet finished preparing the evening meal, and the female had settled down to watching teevee. 

The Dib-stink’s house was still silent. 

Zim looked down to the console in front of him and typed a few quick strokes on the keyboard to pull up the transcript of the host-girl's mutterings. He was curious; did her lip speaking mean she still had a Bond with that parasite? Or was she just crazy and simply talking to herself?

Another small screen popped out of the wall, this time from the left, and moved towards Zim’s face. He sat up straighter as Irken lettering appeared, showing a transcript from the moment his spy drones had arrived at her house, overlayed on top of a recording of the host-girl laying on her bed so Zim could track her body language along with the words.

_"Where do you think you are?"_

_"So far already?"_

There were periods of silence between each sentence, as if she was carrying on a conversation and waiting for the replay.

_"Are you sure you'll be able to find your pod?"_

Pod? She must still be in contact with the Loughran then, but it was nowhere near by. Zim’s spy drones proved that. How far could this parasite go from its host? Why wasn’t important information like that in the report! Why had it even left its host’s proximity?

_“It’s just been sitting in the middle of a forest for six years...do you think it’ll even work any more?”_

What was? Oh, right, the pod...what pod?

 _“Why did you leave it there anyway? Wouldn’t you have wanted it close by, since you were supposed to be joined by others of your kind? Wouldn’t they need the pod to track you? Why haven’t you gone back for it till now, or tried to reach out to the rest of your kind before this? Why is there suddenly so much about you that I don’t know?”_ the hand over her face curled into a fist.

Zim growled at the lengthy silence that followed, wishing there was some way he could hear/read the other side of this conversation. This was important information that Zim must know too! Was this ‘pod’ the ship the Loughran had come to Urth in? Why would it have been left behind and unprotected if that was the case? Why- _how_ was this Loughran on Urth without Irk knowing about it? Surely they would have found clues about an escape pod or something during the genocide. Should Zim report this to The Almighty Tallest now? Or should he try to get more information first? Like how long the Loughran had been on Urth, wait...the host-girls said six years...was that how long it’s been on this planet? Then that would mean it arrived shortly before the genocide began. How did it get here? Did a Vortian or another alien bring it? But then why would it have a pod? That made it sound like it came alone, but the report clearly said they couldn’t last more than thirty minutes off their planet?!

Was it possible that part of the report...was wrong? Was there a possibility of more Loughran’s floating around in space somewhere?

_“I thought you were a hivemind, shouldn’t that be something you’d know?”_

Yes, the Loughran were a hivemind...if Zim could capture and somehow interrogate his one, he could get _all_ the answers to his many many questions!

_“I’m sorry…”_

The host-girl lapsed into silence again, the video showed her moving her arm to her forehead and looking up at the ceiling. Zim leaned towards the screen to watch her carefully.

“I miss you.” She whispered out loud.

Zim’s antena quirked with confusion, the host-girl sounded...so sad and sincere. She was just upset with the parasite a moment ago, wasn’t she? What had it said to change her mind?

On the monitor, the host-girl turned her head to look out the window behind her. After a moment’s pause she turned her attention back to the ceiling then moved her arm again to cover her eyes and let out a soft sigh before she wiggled into her bed for a more comfortable position.

_“Need to know…”_

_“It’s ok, I understand.”_

_“Yeah?”_

A small, sad smile formed on her lips, “I love you, too.” She whispered.

 _What_??

Zim quickly read over the transcript again, but that was it. The only information of use was that the Loughran was somewhere far away-yet still maintaining the link with its host-it has been on Urth for approximately six years now, and it was going to retrieve the ship that it had landed in. _Actually, that may be enough information for Zim to report to the Almighty Tallest…_

Victory for Zim!!

He dismissed the small screen and looked up at the large monitor again. The host-girl was sleeping silently, _heh weak hyumans still needing sleep, pathetic aliens!_ The male parental unit had finished with the food, and was setting it out for the others to eat. When the host-girl did not respond to his verbal summons, he went up to her room and found her unconscious. Oddly, he did not wake her. He simply let her be and went back downstairs to eat with the female parental unit.

Zim continued to watch, bored out of his mind, as the two adults ate, then went about their evening. The only thing of interest occured when the Dib-stink and his family unit finally returned from wherever they had been. The purple haired one carried armfuls of stuffed monstrosities into the house, and went up to what Zim could only assume was her assigned sleeping quarters. The Dib-stink and his Taller parental unit made their way down a set of stairs leading to below ground.

Zim sent one of the spy drones to follow. The two hyumans spent most the night in an impressive-by Urth standards, not Irk’s of course-underground lab, researching and doing sciency things. Talking about ‘Mantic Shrinb Eyeballs’ or some other such nonsense. The topic of aliens didn’t come up once. 

When it was apparent that nothing of interest was going to happen at either of the house holds, Zim set the spy drones to record and left his station. He marched out of the room and down the hall to the right. 

He took the lift up to the house portion of his base and emerged out of the trashcan. He then marched out of the kitchen and into the living room. GIR was seated on the couch in his doggie costume, noisily drinking some disgusting Urth thingy and watching some brain rotting thing on the teevee at an antenna assaulting volume.

“GIR!” Zim shouted over the teevee at the little robot. “Turn that off! Zim needs to call the Tallest!”

“But ‘dis my favorite _shooow_!” GIR whined.

“Now, GIR.” Zim said sternly.

“O’tay!” GIR lifted up the remote with one paw and slammed the other on top of it several times. The chanels flipped around, the volume _somehow_ got louder, the colors became inverted, then finally, the teevee screen went dark. GIR dropped the remote and gave Zim a stupidly proud grin before going back to noisily sipping at his drink.

Zim marched into the middle of the room and stood rimrod straight. He used the dark screen as a mirror to straighten his tunic and smooth out his antenna. Once he was satisfied with his appearance, he ordered the Computer to contact the Almighty Tallest. 

He stood at attention while the teevee rang.

***

Almighty Tallest Red and Almighty Tallest Purple were both lounging on a large dark purple couch in the middle of the Main Control room of the Massive as it made its way through Irken controlled space. Purple was casually sipping at a sweet bubbly drink with his legs up on the seat cushions, while Red was slowly making his way through a bag of sweet rolls, slouching back into the couch, his legs stretching out in front of him. 

Red was overseeing the Navigators maneuvering the Massive past a small nebula, every now and again calling out orders around mouthfuls of sweet rolls. Purple was watching Red with a bored expression as he sipped away at his drink.

A pink eyed Smallest table drone approached them, head bowed and antenna flat against his head in respect and fear.

Purple sipped at his drink noisily as he looked down at the drone with his most bored expression.

“T-the reports you ordered, My Tallest.” The drone said in a small voice as he held up a tablet, eyes down on the floor.

“Give me those.” Red leaned over and snatched the tablet from the drone, placing his bag of sweet rolls onto the table atop its head as he did. Red leaned back into the couch and started scrolling through the report as Purple repositioned himself so he could lean over Red’s shoulder to look.

It has been a few months since the start of Operation Impending Doom II, all of the Invaders have successfully made it onto their assigned planets and had begun the initial stage of information retrieval. The report was very simple and straightforward, just information on day to day life on each planet, nothing really useful in the grand scheme of what would be needed for a take over. But still information Red wanted to look over to make sure none of the planet grew suspicious of the Irken Invaders.

“Borrring~!” Purple whined as he flopped dramatically back against the opposite corner of the couch, taking another loud sip of his drink. “When’s all the excitement supposed to start? I wanna blow stuff up!”

“Later.” Red said in an annoyed tone, he loved his Co-ruler most the time, but Purple’s lack of patients really had a way of getting under his skin. Red finished reading the report after a few more ticks and switched the tablet back for his sweet rolls before dismissing the Smallest table drone with a wave of his claws. He then leaned back in his seat and popped a sweet roll into his mouth, looking back at the large view screen of the nebula.

Purple took another sip of his drink, somehow being loud enough for it to echo throughout the large control room.

Red’s antenna twitched in irritation and he turned to scold Purple when one of the Navigators spoke up.

“My Tallest, we have an incoming communication request from a planet called...Urth?”

“Urth?” Purple asked, only the slightest hint of interest creeping into his voice. “Isn’t that where we sent-?”

“Ugh.” Red said. “Yeah. Zim.” He sighed and stood up, approaching the giant view screen, his antenna leaning back with annoyance and his eyes half lidded. He motioned for the Navigator to answer.

“My Tallest!” Zim appeared on the giant monitor, he bowed his head, one arm crossed over his chest, and wiggled his antenna in respect.

“What is it Zim.” Red asked, trying his best to stay professional as he could still hear Purple loudly sipping away.

Zim saluted again then stood as tall as his Smaller form could manage and folded his arms behind his back at parade rest. “My Tallest, it is I, _Zim_! Your best Elite Invader!”

Red just stared at him with his half lidded eyes, Purple snorted a laugh behind him.

“I am calling you, My Tallest, to inform you that I have finally arrived on Urth and the first day of Zim’s Top Secret Mission has been completed!”

“You know, _Zim_ , the other Invaders simply sent written reports, right?” Red said in a voice that was somehow both bored and annoyed. “You shouldn’t call us.”

“Zim has successfully infiltrated this _filthy_ mudball planet,” the Smaller continued as if Red hadn’t spoken. “And the native aliens really are _repulsive_ imbeciles!”

“Their not the only ones.” Purple whispered under his breath, Red coughed to cover his laugh.

“These Urth filth-for the most part-are none the wiser of the Mighty Zim’s infiltration of their pitiful planet! However…” He hesitated and cleared his throat. “There were two _hyumans_ who somehow managed to see through Zim’s _brilliant_ disguise. After a bit of clever recon, Zim discovered how exactly they were able to see past my disguise!”

“We don’t care, Zim.” Purple called from the couch.

“Spit it out, we don’t have all day.” Red agreed, his antenna laying back further as his annoyance grew.

Zim again kept talking as if he didn’t hear them, “As it turns out, there is a Loughran on Urth.”-Red and Purple exchanged confused glances.-“The parasite has attached itself to one of the hyumans, and it is the reason they were able to see through my amazing disguise!”

Red looked back at the monitor, one antenna perked up slightly with interest.

“I did further research, My Tallest, and found that the Loughran has been on Urth for the past six solar cycles. Zim is still trying to find how exactly they arrived, but I felt this was important information for the Empire to know!”

Red waved his hand towards the Tall Communications Navigator and Zim was placed on hold. He then turned to his Co-ruler.

Purple quickly hid a sweet roll behind his back, Red’s antenna twitched at that, but he ignored it for the more important matter.

“Loughran? It sounds familiar, do you recognize that race?”

“No.” Purple said, one arm still hiding behind his back as he sipped his drink. “But we’ve conquered a lot of worlds, you can’t exactly expect me to keep track of all the different races.”

“Sirs.” An Average blue eyed Navigator spoke up to their left, his antennae wavered nervously as both Red and Purple looked towards him. The Navigator cleared his throat and continued in a stronger voice though his antennae still twitched slightly. “The Loughran,”-he indicated the screen in front of him to show he had looked the information up and wasn’t actually showing that he knew more about something than his Tallest-”They were a parasitic alien race. They mentally attached themselves to Vortians and a few of their ally races. They are also the reason the Control Brains came up with the newest eye implants. The Log-Loughran were invisible to us before the upgrade.” He seemed to waver under the unreadable stare of the two Tallest, he tapped the screen again. “Y-you ordered their destruction...about six and a half years ago.”

“Ooooh riiiight.” Purple said, as the memory returned to him. He took the sweet roll out of hiding and took a bite, taking as he chewed. “They could shapeshift, right? And had this weird ability to know everything about whatever alien they attached to, right?”

Red nodded as his PAK memory was jogged as well, he was too distracted going over the information to notice that Purple had started eating his snacks. If there was one left, could there be more? How had they missed this one? Should they order it destroyed like the rest, or…?

“Correct, My Tallest.” Replied the Average Navigator.

“Hm.” Red said thoughtfully, one claw tapping against his bottom lip.

“What?” Purple finally sat up straight, his antenna standing forward with interest, looking at Red “I know that look, you have an idea that will lead to something fun! What is it?” He grinned.

A slow smile crept over Red’s face as he lowered his hand. “We tried to wipe that parasite out because we felt that it could cause problems for the Empire. But if there’s only one left, maybe we could turn it into a weapon of our own? Or at the very least, a fun play toy to experiment on.”

“Oh, yes! I vote for fun play thing!” Purple’s grin grew. “We had to kill them all so fast before to avoid that stupid hivemind warning them all! I never got to play with any of them, I’m sure I could still find the notes of all the things I wanted to try out before.” He sipped his drink, “Like, the full extent of their shapeshifting, or how much pain they can tolerate before they snap!” He chuckled.

Red nodded, “Then it's settled.” He turned back to the monitor and put a bored expression back on his face before motioning to the Tall Navigator to take Zim off hold.

“-est! My Tallest! My Tallest! My Tall-oh! You’re back!” Zim bowed and wiggled his antenna.

Red’s lip twitched in annoyance. He could hear Purple trying really hard not to laugh behind him.

“As I was saying-”

“No.” Red snapped, trying to cut him off before he started on another tyrade. “Zim. That’s enough. We’ve come to a decision.” 

“Oh...yes, My Tallest?” Zim asked eagerly with a salute.

“We want you to observe the Loughran. Find out whether it is truly alone, or if there are others of its kind still alive somewhere in the universe. Observe only Zim, don’t kill it or capture it. But don’t lose sight of it. Do you understand, Zim?”

“Yes My Tallest!” Zim bowed his head again, he looked up and opened his mouth to say something but the connection went dead as Red signaled the Tall Navigator to cut the feed.

“Wait…” Purple asked as Red sat back down on the couch and snatched the bag of sweet rolls out of Purple’s claws. “Is that all?!”

“Of course not.” Red said casually as he ate a sweet roll and leaned his back against Purple’s shoulder before kicking his feet up onto the couch. “I’m going to send a bounty hunter to Urth.” He finished the snack and summoned a communicator from his PAK. “I’m just using Zim to keep an eye on the Loughran until they can arrive and capture it, this way the parasite can’t disappear on us. And we can keep Zim as far away as possible.”

“Ah, smart.” Purple commended, resting his own feet on top of a Smallest table drone and looking out the view port at the passing nebula as he sipped his drink.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Zim's curse word Flirk comes from Hecallsmehischild's fics: GO CHECK THEM OUT!
> 
> So, there is an actual reason why the Loughran need to form a Bond in order to leave their planet-but are fine without one while they’re on their planet. I’m just not sure yet if I want that to be a big plot thing, so I’m going to sit on it for now (I'll let y'all know the reason if I ever decide not to use it)
> 
> EDIT: Decided to make Membrane taller so had to modify the Height Chart (Changed his height from 6'8" to 6'11")  
> List of Irken ranks/heights/jobs (my own personal HC)  
> Smeet range from the size of a potato to about 2 foot, They spend all their time in training  
> Smallest are 2-3 foot, They tend to be the lowest servants such as table drones with no ability to move up in rank unless they literally grow taller  
> Smaller are 4-5 foot, They tend to have very remedial jobs like food service and janitorial, but if they show enough promise they can move up in the ranks  
> Small are 5-5'5", They are typically cleaning and maintenance drones, some lucky ones can work in scientific fields, but they also have the ability to move up if they show promise.  
> Average are 5'5"-5'8", This is the average citizen height, they can hold pretty much any job they want with a handful of exceptions. And don't let the small range full you, more than half the population falls between these heights.  
> Tall are 5'9"-6'5", They tend to be high-ranking scientists, Navigators on the Massive, or guards  
> Taller are 6'5"-6'11", They tend to be intimidating guards or very high-ranking generals. The upper range of this height changes base on how tall the Tallest are (ie, for Miyuki, Taller capped out at 7'7") but all heights below always keep the same rang no matter how tall the Tallest are.  
> Tallest are 7'-8', They are the rulers and there can only be a maximum of 3 at a time, (it's physically impossible for any Irken to grow to these heights if there are already 3). If there are no Tallest-and the Control Brains are unable to select any replacements in time-then up to three Irkens will randomly and suddenly have a growth spurt triggered by their PAKs and the new Tallest will be selected from them. 
> 
> With Zim being the same height as Dib, at 4'9" (rough average of 12 year old males) Kailah is just a bit shorter at 4"6’ Gaz would probably be somewhere in-between, they'd all be listed as Smallest.  
> Ms Bitters is probably 5'11", possibly 6'2" because she slouches, so its hard to tell her exact height  
> Professor Membrane is 6'11"  
> And Red and Purple are exactly 7 foot tall (with Spork being about 6'10" and Miyuki being the tallest Tallest at 7'8")
> 
> And don’t worry, next chapter you’ll get the full conversation between Kailah and Chomp


	9. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, sorry for the slight delay, but ya know...it's to be expected that eventually a weekly update schedule would crumble ^_^; but hey, 7 weeks in a row was a pretty good streak lol  
> And look! We finally get to see Chomp's side of that conversation Zim spied on last chapter! And..wait...OH SNAP! IS THAT A PLOT?!

**Chapter 8**

When Kailah finally got home (after getting lost and having to go all the way back to the skool, just to recognize the streets, so she could find her way home), she gave her dad a tired hello. As she put the mail on the kitchen counter, she gave him a quick and casual explanation of hanging out with friends after skool to explain her late arrival. She then gave an off handed comment about being tired from the walk home, before heading out of the kitchen and towards the stairs. Her dad called after her to say that dinner would be ready within the hour and don’t forget to wash your hands first. She gave a soft verbal confirmation that she heard him as she disappeared into her room. 

She shrugged off her backpack and dropped it onto the floor next to her dresser before closing the door. A few shuffling footsteps forward and she flopped down, hard, face first onto her bed, suddenly feeling too exhausted to do much else. Her room was a little cluttered but far from dirty. There were still two boxes sitting in one corner by her closet that haven’t been unpacked yet from the move-as well as several personal mementos that hadn’t yet found permanent homes that were leaning up against one wall. She really should work on that...maybe later. The walls were painted a light lime green with white accents that gave the room a warm spring time feeling, something left over from the previous owners. But honestly, Kailah liked it. Her bed was pushed up against the wall where a small window sat right above her pillow. 

She rolled onto her back and threw an arm dramatically over her eyes to block out the afternoon sun coming in through the window. She then let out a long, low exhausted groan and tried to unwind from the stress of the day. 

After a few minutes of silence, she felt a faint mental nudge, light and distance, filled with soft questions and a hint of worry.

_ "I don't know why I'm so tired…" _ She mouthed in response, knowing that if she simply thought her reply, she’d end up falling asleep midconversation.

_ I've been running non-stop since I left the skool, maybe you're feeling that?  _ They tried to reason.

_ "Doubtful."  _ she hummed. " _ You’ve run long distance plenty of times before...like when we drove to Florida? You ran off and on for a lot of that trip and I never felt this tired ...I don’t think it's physical exhaustion…" _

_...It might be all the emotional stress then. A lot has happened today… _ A flash of Zim’s face, sneering at the viewer. Followed by Dib; leaning in close, eager for answers.

Kailah let out another soft hum, agreeing a little, but not fully. Today was definitely a different type of emotional stress than what either of them has ever had to deal with before, between Zim being an alien and…’Chomp’s’ existence now being known. She thought numbly that perhaps; exhaustion may actually be the best reaction. It was definitely better than the alternative of panic and anxiety. 

They both lapsed into silence for several moments, her thoughts reviewing the events of the day for what must have been the second dozenth time. If she focused, Kailah could feel the rhythm of running through the Bond, as if that’s what her Bondmate was mainly trying to focus on. The journey, rather than the destination or the reason for going.

Step. Step. Pant. Step. Step. Pant.

" _ Where do you think you are?"  _ She asked, knowing that if she kept listening to the rhythm of them running she’d fall asleep without getting any answers.

_...I think I crossed the border into Michigan about a mile or so ago. _

_ "So far already?"  _ She was impressed and a little surprised. Though she could also feel a hint of deep lonely longing gripping her chest, she tried her best to keep that emotion away from the Bond.

_ I don't have to follow roads,  _ They reminded, _ that helps. And I've also been switching between running and flying, so I haven't had to detour around lakes or anything. It’s helped...but I’m still probably a few days out. _

_ "Are you sure you'll be able to find your pod?" _

_ If it's where I left it, yes. Once I make it back to Pennsylvania, it will be very easy to backtrack to where I landed...after I find where we used to live. _

_ “It’s just been sitting in the middle of a forest for six years...do you think it’ll even work any more?” _

_ Of course. It’s a hybrid of multiple alien technologies, it’s built to withstand the vacuum of space, and the intensity of entering a planet’s atmosphere. I doubt a little bit of weather or a few plants will have done any damage. _

_ “Why did you leave it there anyway? Wouldn’t you have wanted it close by, since you were supposed to be joined by others of your kind? Wouldn’t they need the pod to track you? Why haven’t you gone back for it till now, or tried to reach out to the rest of your kind before this? Why is there suddenly so much about you that I don’t know?”  _ the hand over her face curled into a fist as she tried not to think about how Dib was right: she should have questioned this sorta stuff long ago.

_ I’m sorry...I’m sorry that you feel this way.  _ The constant rhythm of running slowed, and the blackness behind Kailah’s eyes started to shimmer and brighten as images were shared through the Bond.

Emerging from the treeline of a forest, Chomp paused to stand at the edge of a highway, traffic heavy with early rush hour. She could hear her Bondmate debating with themselves the best way to cross safely, while also trying to find the best way to answer all her questions.

_ I left the pod where it was, because it isn’t invisible like I am. _ They waved their head side to side, trying to judge the speed and distance between cars, to see if they could simply run across while dodging. _ I never checked back with my kind because I was told not to,  _ The cars were too many and too fast for that plan. _ that they would come to me when the time came to get the report.  _ They shifted into a crow and started flying over the highway.  _ I probably should have tried reaching out to them when the three year mark came and went. But I had you...I was happy just living our life. I...I didn’t want to risk ending our peaceful life by reaching out and reminding them that I was still here. And when we moved away, I didn’t think to go back to get it...or maybe, on some level, I didn’t want them to be able to find me and disrupt our life… _

There was silence between them for several heartbeats, then Chomp added: _ I don’t...I don’t know why they sent me to this planet alone, with so little information. I thought I did...but the more I think about it, the less I understand... _

_ “I thought you were a hivemind, shouldn’t that be something you’d know?”  _ She was genuinely curious.

_ I only just hatched, I didn’t have much time to absorb the knowledge of my kind before I was given my mission and placed in the pod.  _ They explained, wing beats ending each sentence. _ I had to be placed in hyper-sleep in order to survive the long journey-my kind dies without a Bond in less than an hour if we’re off our home planet. The pod has some sort of technology that kept me alive without a Bond-as long as I was suspended in hyper-sleep. By the time I woke up on this planet...I couldn’t hear any of them. I just assumed it was the great distance of space.  _ As if an afterthought, they added in a soft, sad whisper.  _ I know more about Earth and its history, the animals that live here, than I do about my own planet. I know more about your culture and your family than I do my own. _

_ “I’m sorry…”  _ And she meant it, because she knew they were telling the truth. They really didn’t know anything else, about the mission, about their kind. She could see in their mind, the vague instructions for this mission mere moments after they became conscious of being alive, before they were placed in a pod, put to sleep, and shot into space.

_ Don’t be. I should have been more honest with you…even if there wasn’t that much to tell. We’re Forever Bondmates, I shouldn’t have hid any of this from you. _

They both lapsed into silence then, just finding comfort in each others’ mental company. Kailah watched as the images of trees and small ponds and lakes passed by below her Bondmate as they flew east. 

Kailah moved her arm to her forehead, all the mental images dissipated as she opened her eyes and looked up at the ceiling.

“I miss you.” She whispered out loud, meaning it with all her heart.

_ I miss you, too.  _ And they meant it with all their core.

Kailah looked towards the window behind her head for a moment, wishing they weren’t so far apart. She then laid back in her bed, moved her arm again to cover her eyes, and wiggled a bit to get more comfortable before letting out a soft sigh.

_...I promise I’ll come back to you. I won’t abandon you. I just… _

_ “Need to know…”  _ She mouthed.

_ Yes. _

_ “It’s ok, I understand.” _

A pause: _...And Kay… _

_ “Yeah?” _

_ I love you. _

A sad smile formed on her lips, “I love you, too.” She whispered. 

Exhaustion continued to creep over her slowly as Chomp landed and shifted back to their usual Velociraptor form then began running through a new forest. 

Kailah fell asleep to the images of trees flashing by and the rhythmic thoughts focusing on running and breathing.

Step step. Pant. Step step. Pant. Step...

***

A gentle hand on her shoulder. A quiet voice calling her name, slowly pulling her from a deep, restless, dreamless sleep.

The hand moves from her shoulder, gently presses against her forehead, then her cheek, then her neck.

“Maybe you should stay home from skool.” It sounded a thousand miles away.

Kailah lets out a soft groan, the words waking her up even if she didn’t fully understand their meaning. Something about skool? Was it time for skool right now? Was she late? She tried to force her eyes open, but they seemed to be glued shut. Her thoughts felt like they were being dragged through thick mud. Actually, her whole body felt like it was submerged in mud-an odd weight pressing down all over.

Kailah could hear her mom leaving the room. The girl’s arms felt heavy and sluggish, but she eventually managed to drag one up to her face and rub at her sleep crusted eyes. 

As she started to rub her other eye clear, she looked around her dark room with sleepy confusion. The clock on her bedside table informed her-in very blurry blue numbers-that it was twenty mintues passed when she was supposed to wake up for skool. She must have forgotten to set the alarm before she passed out... _ Ugh,  _ she hadn’t even done her homework! And she must have slept right through dinner, too. Well, at least she didn’t feel hungry.

After a moment's hesitation, Kailah literally rolled out of her bed and onto the floor in an ungraceful heap. She reached up and grabbed her nightstand, bracing herself against it, she struggled up to her feet.

She looked down. 

She was still fully clothed from the day before, shoes and all. She huffed and shuffled to her closet while rubbing at her tired face. She could feel-in the back of her mind and very far away-the rhythm of her Bondmate still running. Had they even stopped while she slept?

Kailah pushed her closet door open-taking more effort than she’d like to admit- then struggled to get changed and ready for skool, simply picking clothes at random (a purple shirt with an aquarium logo on it, the same blue jeans she was already wearing, and a mismatch pair of ankle socks).

Her mom came back with a thermometer in hand, and made a disappointed noise when she saw that Kailah was trying to pull her favorite green hoodie on backwards over her backpack.

“Kiddo, didn’t you hear what I said?” She asked as she gently but firmly pulled the hoodie back over Kailah’s head then tugged at the backpack until her daughter let it go and placed it back on the floor. She then directed Kailah to sit down on her bed and placed the thermometer under her tongue. “You passed out as soon as you got home, not even bothering to get undressed, skipped dinner, and now you’re looking deathly pale. You probably have the flu, you shouldn’t be going to skool today.”

_ But I have to go to skool.  _ Kailah argued groggily, partly because she was unable to talk with the thermometer in her mouth, and partly because in her sleepy state she actually forgot that her mom couldn’t read her thoughts like Chomp could.  _ I promised Dib I’d tell him more about...plus who knows what Dib’ll do to Zim if I’m suddenly not at skool...especially if he thinks Zim did something after that fight at recess...and I think there’s a math test? It’s only been a month, I can’t miss skool or any tests now...besides, I’ve never had the flu before. And I don’t feel sick, I feel fine, I’m just tired, that's all. _

She felt her Bondmate probe her mind curiously, confirming that it seemed to be simple exhaustion and nothing worse.

Her mom removed the thermometer and frowned softly, “Normal?” she said confused and placed a hand on Kailah’s forehead again, as if  _ that  _ was more accurate than the device in her hand, “How do you feel?”

Kailah shrugged. “Okay? Like I said, I don’t feel sick, just really tired...but, I gotta go to skool today mom.” she insisted.

Her mom stood up straighter and looked down at her, arms on her hips and face both doubtful and thoughtful with a raised eyebrow and pursed lips. “Are you sure? I’d understand if you want to take a day off, you really are looking pale, sweetheart.”

“I am, I...I have to go to skool today…” She was having a little trouble thinking clearly, and words seemed to be a bit of a struggle, but something told her she really had to go to skool today.

_ You should stay home and rest if you need to, missing one day of skool isn’t a bad thing.  _ A very distant, and reasonable, voice whispered.

Her mom sighed and let her arms fall back to her side “Okay, but I’ll drive you so you won’t be late.” Her mom raised a single finger to emphasise her next words sternly, “And if you start to feel worse, don’t be afraid to go to the nurse and have them call me or your father to come pick you up, okay?” She said in her best worried mom voice. 

Kailah agreed. 

She finished getting dressed for skool. Her thoughts were a little scattered, and her whole body felt as heavy as lead, but with her mother helping her brush her hair it didn’t take long before they were making their way down to the kitchen. Her mom forced her to eat at least half a poptart-since she skipped dinner the night before. When Kailah insisted that she wasn’t hungry enough to finish, her mom relented and handed her her lunch bag as they both left the house and loaded into the car.

“Are you sure you want to go to skool today?” Her mom asked for the umteenth time as the car pulled up in front of the skool, she placed a hand on Kailah’s face again, her own face filled with worry.

“Yes, mom. I’m sure.” Kailah lovingly brushed her mom’s hand away and gave her a sleepy, reassuring smile, before she pushed open the car door. “I’ll see you after skool.”

“Love you.” Her mom added.

“Love you, too.” Kailah gave her another smile-this one more genuine-then closed the door and turned to walk towards the skool as her mom drove off. Kailah mentally reached out to her Bondmate out of habit as she made her way up the front stairs.

_ I’m still here.  _ They sounded so far away, like the two of them were on opposite sides of the first telephone call.

_ I must have slept for 14 hours, but I swear I feel even more exhausted than I did last night… _ Kailah confided as she made her way slowly up the stairs, one step at a time, hand gripping the railing.

_...I ran throughout the night, maybe you didn’t sleep well enough because of that? I think I’m in Ohio now though, the sooner I can get answers, the sooner I can come back to you. _

_ All night?...How were you even able to do that?  _ She thought in a joking tone, _ I can’t even keep my eyes open right now.  _ As if to prove the point, she wacked her shoulder painfully on the doorframe as she tried to enter the building.  _ Ow... _

There was silence for a moment as Chomped searched her thoughts again, after confirming she wasn’t actually hurt they said:  _ I’m not sure, but I can feel that you’re exhausted. Promise me you’ll take it easy today, okay? At this rate, I should be back by Sunday, we can worry about this strange illness then? _

_ Alright... _ Kailah made her way through the skool towards the classroom. Even though she had gotten a late start, thanks to her mom driving her, she was still technically early.  _ What day is today? _

_ Thursday.  _ Chomp said after a quick pause.

***

Dib sat at his desk, one leg bouncing with excitement and anticipation. He pushed his glasses up his nose and looked around the classroom. Everything looked...bolder? More colorful? More defined? Everything just looked very different and was in absolute max HD quality and it was  _ fascinating _ ! He could see colors he didn’t even think  _ existed  _ before! Like shimmering metallic blues and greens in the chrome legs of the desks, a color he could only call ‘blurange’ speckled throughout the chalkboard, and he’d  _ never  _ be able to look at a pigeon's head the same way again!! 

He could also see lots of details in the world that used to be too tiny for him to notice! Such as chalk dust particles floating in the sunbeams coming in through the window. Or the imperfections of the wood of Ms Bitter’s desk with little splinters sticking up on the legs. Or the veins on each individual leaf on a tree outside that was more than 50 feet away!

Dib and his dad had spent most the night working on different versions of the lenses; they went through four versions of the prototype before Professor Membrane finally proclaimed it was perfect. His dad had been surprisingly enthusiastic about helping build the glasses once he understood just how complex the eyesight of the Mantis Shrimp was. His dad actually seemed to really enjoy the challenge and even agreed to help add a few extra features! 

Along the right side of the glasses were four buttons: one for the HD clearity that Dib was currently using-this was the one that should hopefully let him see Chomp the same way Kailah did (and so much more! There were so many more colors and details than he would have expected possible with this feature!). The second button turned on Thermal Imaging-so he could see heat signatures in case the HD one didn’t show Chomp (plus, you know, there were so many other useful things Dib was certain he could use Thermal Imaging for!). The third was Night Vision-so he could go cryptic hunting late at night without a flashlight that would give his position away (though he totally used a different excuse to include it in order to convince his dad to help him add it on). And the last one was Normal Vision (“So as not to ruin your eyesight!” His dad had said, “Now, Son, don’t leave these glasses on one of the other settings for more than 30 minutes, or they’ll do some permanent damage to your eyes, understand? This is all still very experimental after all!”). Once they had the lenses perfected, it had been a simple act to switch them from a bulky set of goggles, to something more akin to Dib’s usual pair of glasses. 

Dib grinned to himself as he pressed through the buttons again, he couldn’t wait to try them all out! His legs bounced excitedly as he set the glasses back to HD and watched the door for the arrival of Kailah and-hopefully-her alien friend! He was so excited to test out his new glasses, he momentarily forgot that the Loughran had run off the day before.

_ Oh! And Zim!! _ Dib couldn’t  _ wait  _ to look at Zim with the Thermal setting! What was  _ that  _ alien’s core body temperature? Was he cold or warm blooded?! What would he look like compared to everyone else?

His legs sped up as if he was running a marathon as his thoughts branched off into separate theories on what it would mean if Zim was one or the other. Cold blooded would mean he’d need a heat source to function, but what would his normal temperature range be? Is Earth even a good temperature for him? Winter was in a few months, how would that affect his metabolism? But if he was warm blooded then that wouldn’t matter..but warm blooded creatures tended to need to eat more often than cold blooded ones, right? And Dib very clearly remembered Zim refusing to eat at lunch yesterday...he’d just have to find a way to observe Zim at his house or base or lair or nest or...whatever, to see what, and how often, the alien ate. Maybe he could follow the alien home after skool today? 

Then a new and scary thought popped into his head, causing his legs to momentarily pause: what if Zim didn’t even show up today?! After all, Dib had tried to expose him, then Kailah had attacked him...then Chomp had attacked him...and when the bell rang Zim bolted. What if Zim didn’t even show up at skool today? Or what if he’s already left the city!! What if Dib had completely missed his chance to gather proof of a real life alien!!!

At that moment Kailah finally shuffled into the classroom, Dib almost jumped to his feet and ran over to her, bursting with questions and nervous energy. The thing that stopped him was the look on her face.

She was so pale, like she just saw a ghost or was about to throw up? And she was walking as if it was a great struggle to do so, shuffling her feet like a zombie. Dib was frozen, half standing at his desk, as he watched her drop her backpack unceremoniously with a loud thud on the floor next to her desk before sitting down heavily. That’s when Dib noticed that she was breathing a little laboriously too, maybe she’d woken up late and ran to skool? No, wouldn’t her face be flushed then-instead of this sickly pale? And she was still early enough to class that it wouldn’t make sense for her to have needed to run till she was that exhausted.

Thinking that maybe it was the setting of his glasses, Dib switched them to Thermal mode-noting that her body temperature matched that of the other students-so...not a fever. He then switched to Normal mode and saw that she was indeed looking rather pale today. He slipped the rest of the way out of his chair and walked around the row of desks to make his way over to her. He swung his leg over the chair of the desk in front of her and sat down backwards.

He knocked on her desk with one knuckle when she didn’t immediately acknowledge him.

“Hey?” He said with a hint of concern in his voice. He gave her a small frown when she jumped slightly, as if he just woke her up. His eyes screwtinized her face.

“Wha-oh, yeah, hey...morning…” She mumbled. She rubbed at her face with one hand then looked at him with unfocused, sleepy eyes. 

“Are you okay?” He asked, examining her face closely, his brows furrowing. She just looked...really tired? Maybe she hadn’t slept much last night? But then why was she so pale? And she didn’t seem to have any bags under her eyes, which was usually a big sign of lack of sleep, wasn’t it? Sure, Dib never really got bags when he went a night or two without sleep, but he’s also never felt as tired as Kailah looked right now.

Kailah shrugged-or rather-her shoulders twitched up for a second before falling back down. “Yeah, I’m fine...just tired. Why does everyone keep asking me that?”

“Maybe cause you’re almost as pale as a ghost? Did you get any sleep last night?” Though he wasn’t really one to talk, staying up all night with his dad working on the glasses, he hadn’t slept a wink (not to mention he only had about three to four hours of sleep the night before). But he didn’t feel a quarter as tired as she looked right now. But then again, he was a known insomniac, who often missed out on sleep cause his brain was too busy trying to connect the dots and solve the big mysteries of the world. So maybe he was just used to it.

“Yeah,” She gave a tired sigh, “probably close to fourteen hours.” Her eyelids started to droop.

“Seriously?!” Dib was shocked and leaned back in the chair, fourteen hours? That’d mean she’d had to have gone to sleep the second she’d got home, maybe she really was sick?

Kailah nodded, placing both elbows on her desk and propping her head up on her hands. She almost looked like she was about to fall asleep again?

“Where’s Chomp?” Dib asked after a moment, his curiosity finally getting the better of him. He watched her closely for a moment, his fingers itching to switch his glasses back to HD mode and look wherever she did. He only remembered as he asked the question that the Loughran had gone away. Part of him still hoped they had returned already, so he could test his newest invention out, but he knew that wasn’t possible; Pennsylvania was several states away.

Instead of looking towards the windows or a corner of the classroom, she just kept looking at him with those half closed, unfocused eyes, and gave another small shrug. “Ohio. We think. They ran almost all night long, they haven’t really stopped moving...since they left.” Her eyes slowly dropped closed and her voice got softer and softer as she spoke. “We think that’s why...I’m so tired…”

“Yeah, that can’t be healthy.” Dib said thoughtfully, though at the same time his brain also curiously jumped to the thought:  _ Wait, didn’t Zim call the Loughran a parasite? What if this long distance thing is the cause for her exhaustion? _

“Hmm” Kailah agreed sleepily. “They should...be back by...Sunday?” Her breathing still seemed a little labored, even though she’d been sitting for the past few minutes. And Dib noted with more than a bit of concern that her face was still the same pale shade as well. “Maybe sooner...if they can...get the pod...to…”

Dib snapped his fingers by her face to keep her awake. “Hey.” He tried to keep his voice light and curious, but it accidentally came out a bit more accusatory. “Why’d you even come to skool? If you can’t even keep your eyes open? Plus, with how pale you look, why not just take a sick day?”

Kailah cracked one eye open to look at him, her voice was barely louder than a mumbled whisper, forcing Dib to lean in closer to hear her. “Because, I promised to answer more of your questions today...it’d be rude...if I didn’t come to skool...after making that promise…” her eye slipped closed again, so she missed how dumbfounded she just made Dib. 

He just stared at her, she was exhausted and literally falling asleep while talking to him. She quite possibly was having her life force drained by an alien parasite! But she still came to skool because...she promised to answer his questions?! He tried to come up with a response and instead felt his breath catch in his throat and his jaw go slack; is this what it’s like to have a ‘friend’? Why else would she go so out of her way otherwise? Did she think he’d expose her secret if she didn’t come today to answer the rest of his questions? Or was this really because she made a ‘promise’? 

He just continued to stare at her in disbelief as his mind failed to come up with a satisfying answer.

Without warning, two gloved hands slammed down on the desk between them-making Dib jump back, painfully hitting his funny bone on the desk behind him. Dib winced and rubbed at his elbow, looking up just in time to see that Zim’s face was leaning threateningly close to Kailah’s. His weird purple eyes narrowed, and an ugly sneer on his green alien face which pulled his lips up over his teeth. The girl jumped and let out a surprised squeak as she was jolted awake. She sat up straight while also leaning back a bit and looked at Zim, suddenly fully alert and with a very confused-and slightly fearful-look on her face.

“Where is the Loughran.” Zim demanded in a hiss before Dib could do anything more than disentangle his leg from the desk and stand up.

“I...uh...What?” Kailah looked at the alien in confusion, the focus seeming to slip from her eyes as whatever exhaustion was affecting her started to take hold again.

“The Loughran!” Zim shouted, drawing the attention of the few other students that were in the room. “The invisible feathery-toothy-clawy-monster parasite, thing!” And that lost their attention. Typical.

“They’re not a  **PARASITE** !” Kailah was suddenly on her feet, slamming her own hands atop the desk on either side of the aliens and leaning in towards Zim, a look of pure anger on her face (Zim seemed momentarily speechless and a little taken aback by her outburst, even going so far as to to remove his hands from the desk and standing up straight). Then, somehow, the girl’s face went even paler than before as it began to shimmer with a sheen of sweat. Before either Dib or Zim could react, Kailah swayed, her eyes rolling back into her head, and she collapsed sideways onto the floor with a painful sounding thwack.

“Kailah!!” Dib quickly dropped down next to her, placed a hand on her shoulder, he rolled her slightly to get a better look at her face. He let out a relieved sigh. She was still breathing, deathly pale and unconscious, but still breathing and no sign of blood or a visibly cracked skull. He glared up at Zim. “What did you do to her!”  _ This has to be him! Revenge for the fight from yesterday, surely!! _

“ _ W-what _ ?! Zim didn’t do  _ anything _ ! The host-girl simply fell over on her own!” Zim waved his arms at her to emphasize his words then folded them defensively across his chest and stuck his chin up in the air with a haughty huff.

In one fluid motion, Dib jumped to his feet, leapt over the row of desks, and grabbed Zim by the front of his pink shirt with one hand while winding the other back for a punch.

Zim glared hard at Dib, his green upper lip curling back to reveal very odd shaped teeth- _ seriously _ ! how was it that Dib was the only one to see that this guy was  _ clearly  _ an  _ alien _ ! Dib forcefully pushed the thought away and held his fist higher and tightened it, completely forgetting they were still in the middle of the classroom.

“Zim did  _ nothing  _ to the host-girl.” The green alien said in a hard whisper, refusing to acknowledge Dib’s hovering fist and instead glaring straight into the boy's amber eyes. “If that  _ parasite  _ is still attached to her, but not nearby. Then it is the cause of...this.” He waved one hand towards Kailah, who was slowly starting to regain consciousness.

The same thought from earlier reentered Dib's mind; Kailah was slowly dying, because Chomp was so far away. Dib then remembered that she had said they were unable to release the Bond, so there was probably only one way to save her. His grip on Zim loosened slightly as he turned his head to look back at her, his other arm still poised for a punch if needed.

"'m fiiine…" She mumbled, though remained laying there with her eyes closed. "Just...fell asleep…"

Zim swatted Dib's hand away from his tunic and the boy willingly let go before lowering his other arm, still watching Kailah.

"Yuh-huh." Kailah continued softly, "it's okay, Dib's making Zim back off…"

Zim gave her a ‘what-are-you-talking-about’ look. Dib climbed back over the desk to kneel down next to her again and gently shook her shoulder.

"Hey, Kailah? Are you okay?"

"Hmm-hmmmm…" She peeled one lid open a crack and looked up at him with a very unfocused eye. "It's Dib, 'm fiiine...just fell asleep for a moment…” She paused. “Oh? Is that right?” She giggled, “Okaaay...I stood up too fast and blacked out." She admitted as she closed her eyes and let out another soft giggle. "My fault...it's alllll goooood."

Dib sat up a little and just watched her helplessly. Was she talking to him? Or…

"Caaan't do thaaat. We got a maths test today, and I promised Dib we’d…” She paused. “I know Mom said that, buuut I don't wannaaa."

“...Kailah?” Dib tried, the feeling of helplessness growing.

“Maybe tomorrow.” Another pause. “I knnoow, I knoow.” Pause. “Naaah mmy head’s fiiine, I don’t feel annything. Just sleeeeeeepy.”

Dib blinked and furrowed his brows. Was she talking to Chomp? Outloud?

“Wow,” Zim said casually from the other side of the desks. “She’s spirling a lot faster than I calculated.” Dib looked up with a hard glare and met his eyes. “Where is the Loughran?” Zim asked again, keeping his casual tone.

“...Why do you want to know.” Dib asked suspiciously, his voice low and slow as he tried and failed to read Zim’s intentionally blank expression.

“I have my reasons.” He glared back. “Now, answer Zim, Urth Worm.”

Dib grimaced and looked back down at Kailah as she continued to mumble nonsense, her eyes lulling and words slurring past understandability. Dib tried to weigh his options.

Other than being an alien pretending to be a human, Zim hadn’t actually done anything  _ ‘evil’ _ . He hadn’t even retaliated or anything at recess when first Kailah, then Chomp, attacked him. And here he was, at skool again instead of disappearing to another part of the planet or going back into space. And yeah, he was being pretty rude and a bit confrontational in how he was demanding the Loughran’s whereabouts, but he hadn’t done anything when Dib threatened to punch him. And he  _ knew  _ what a Loughran was! So...Zim probably knew exactly what was going on, and how to reverse it…maybe...he was being so demanding with the Loughran’s whereabouts because he knew Kailah was dying and didn’t have time for this arguing?

Dib glanced at him, Zim was tapping his foot waiting for an answer. What was he thinking? Did he want to know where Chomp was because he wanted revenge for attacking him yesterday? Or did he want to know so he could help save Kailah? But why would he really want to help her after that whole thing yesterday? Dib couldn’t see what Zim could possibly have to gain from helping them right now. Zim must want to know where the Loughran was for his own reason. But what reason would that be!? According to Kailah, Chomp has been on Earth for six years, and as far as Dib knew, Zim had only just arrived. Where was the connection? Did Zim come to Earth for Chomp? No, he seemed genuinely surprised when he saw the Loughran yesterday. How could Dib know he could trust Zim? Was there a way to make a deal with the Alien?

Deal…?

_ Promise...she’d come to skool because of a promise she’d made.  _ A very simple and very childish thought popped into Dib’s head. No way it would work.

But if it could save her…

Dib gritted his teeth and made up his mind. He stood up and thrust his pinkie towards Zim.

Zim squinted one violet eye at him-not even flinching at the sudden movement-and eyed Dib’s little finger with disgust. “What’s this.”

“It’s called a Pinkie Promise.” Dib said with as much confidence and determination as he could muster, really hoping Zim wouldn’t call his bluff. “It’s a very special and sacred Earth ritual. We come up with terms of agreement and make a deal. We shake pinkies, and if one breaks the promise, then the other gets to chop off their littlest finger. That way the whole world will know that that person went back on their word and broke the promise.” Dib wiggled his pinkies as a subtle way to show he’s never broken such a promise. “It’s very serious.”

“Of course!” Zim said, waving a gloved hand dismissively-wait, did Zim only have  _ three  _ fingers?! “Zim knows of this ‘Pinkity Promise’. Ehhh, but why are you proposing it now?” He added uncertainly.

“I promise to take you to where the Loughran is, if you promise to answer all my questions about aliens.” It was worth a shot.

Zim laughed loud and hard for several seconds then sneered at Dib’s finger with even more disgust as before, his upper lip curling to reveal those weird teeth of his again. Dib kept his hand as steady as he could, holding Zim’s gaze with all the determination and conviction he could muster.

“Zim will answer  _ some  _ questions. And only of  _ other  _ races.” He negotiated while folding his arms tightly across his narrow chest.

Dib bit his lip thoughtfully and narrowed his eyes, he could hear Kailah’s breathing become shallower and a bit more uneven behind him. Honestly, the fact that Zim seemed to be accepting his bluff so far was more than he could have hoped for. 

“Okay.” Dib said. “I promise to take you to where the Loughran is- _ with _ Kailah, so that they can get back together as soon as possible. And you, Zim, will, in return, agree to answer  _ some  _ of my questions about  _ other  _ alien races.” He pushed his pinkie forward a bit more, “Deal?”

Zim stood there a moment longer, arms still tightly folded and eyes narrowed suspiciously. “And if you do not keep your word, Zim gets to take your ‘pinky’ as proof that you are a stupid big headed liar?”

Dib’s eyebrow twitched at the insult. “Yes, and same to you.”

Zim eyed Dib’s pinkie a moment longer.

“Well?” Dib tried his best to hide his anxiety and keep his face expressionless, even so, he could feel his jaw tightening against his will.

“Deal.” Zim reached out with one hand and gave a large toothy grin that sent a very unsettled feeling of regret to the pit of Dib’s stomach the instant their littlest fingers locked together.

“Deal.” Dib agreed in a tight voice before he let go and let his hand fall to his side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So fun fact! Chapter 1 happened on Tuesday, chapters 2-7 all happened on Wednesday! And here we are, finally starting Thursday 8D (I'm actually pretty surprised all of this has happened in the span of like, three days lol)
> 
> Also, I'm curious, do you guys think Dib's glasses are a bit OP? I feel like they would totally be something that he would have in cannon if given the chance, but I want to make sure I don't make them too powerful
> 
> Vote now:   
> Is Zim warm or cold blooded?  
> Are loughrans actually parasites?  
> Will anyone actually lose a finger as a result of a pinkie promise in this fic?  
> Find out next time; on Dragonball Z! Erm, I mean: Chomp!


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

_I am so so sorry._ Fear. Worry. Guilt. So much guilt emitting from them. _If I had known something like this was a possibility, I_ never _would have left you like that! I_ swear _! I'm heading back right now!!_

"It'sssssookaaay." Kailah slurred sleepily, her head flopped back as her body was both limp and smooshed as she sat wedged between Dib and the side of Zim's ship. "Zim's spacity ship goes very _zooooom_ ... we're coming to _yoouuu_." She giggled groggily.

 _No! Kailah. This is not okay._ They thought back sternly with a hint of anger-mostly at themselves. They only ever called her ‘Kailah’ on very rare occasions; usually if she was being stupid and needed some common sense knocked into her. _I should have realized something was wrong a lot sooner! You never should have gotten this bad, I am so sooo sorry!_ They were running as fast as they could back towards her.

"Choommmp, I'm okaaay, reeaally~." She insisted in a soft sing-song voice. "I'm flying in a spacity ship! We’re coming to you, very faaast! Faster than a plaaane~. We’ll find out what happened to your kind soon. I prommmmisssse.” 

"What is she going on about now?" Zim demanded in a sharp voice.

"I think she's talking to the Loughran," Dib said, a hint of worry in his voice. "Maybe she hit her head when she fainted earlier? Either that, or her condition is a lot worse than I thought…I uh, don’t think she realizes she’s talking out loud."

_Kailah. Right now I couldn’t care less about the rest of my kind! Whatever happened to them has happened. I can get my answers later. Right now, I care about you! And no matter how much you insist, I know you’re NOT OKAY!_

“It’sfiiinnnne” She slurred again.

 _...You’re dying, and it’s all my fault..._ The words whispered softly as they leaked through the Bond, almost drowned out by the immense amount of sorrow and guilt that came with them.

***

“Deal.” Zim reached out with one hand and gave a large toothy grin that sent a very unsettled feeling of regret to the pit of Dib’s stomach the instant their littlest fingers locked together.

“Deal.” Dib agreed in a tight voice before he let go and let his hand fall to his side.

Zim then spun on his heels and marched out of the classroom without another word, his boots clicking loudly as he went.

Which left Dib to scramble to grab both his and Kailah's backpacks. He slung both bags over one arm then tried to help Kailah up to her feet with the other. 

She was dead weight.

"Pinkie promise." She giggled in his ear as he tried to pull her arm around his shoulders for leverage. 

Dib struggled to lift them both to their feet, he stumbled a little while trying to keep his own balance between the girl and the bags throwing off his weight...it was _not_ easy! He could feel a few of the other students watching him and whispering to each other. But Dib had more important things to worry about than what his peers thought about this whole situation (then again, Zim had basically admitted to being able to answer Dib’s questions about aliens in front of the whole class...no, more important things to worry about right now).

"...I panicked." He muttered, his ears starting to burn with embarrassment as he finally managed to stand while supporting (what had to be more than half of) Kailah’s weight. Though, that response was a lie, he very much had thought the whole ‘pinkie promise thing’ through before he finally thrust his pinkie into Zim's face-but seeing how loopy Kailah was right now, he didn't want to admit just how much thought he had put into such a silly and childish plan. The last thing he wanted right now was for her to think him crazy or a freak...or have her laugh at him. 

He hated when people laughed at him...and he especially didn't want her laughing at him. Or thinking him an insane freak...

Dib struggled to the door under the weight of Kailah and two backpacks. When he finally managed to reach the empty door frame it was no longer empty. 

Ms. Bitters glared down at him with that permanent disappointed scowl of hers. “And where do you think you’re going, Mr. Membrane?”

“The uh,” Dib glanced between Kailah and the teacher nervously. “Nurses office?” He tried. “She uh, just fainted. And maybe hit her head? Plus she’s really pale and…” He trailed off as Ms. Bitters bent closer to glare and inspect Kailah.

One of the students shouted from behind him, confirming that she had just collapsed, though they missed why. _Because of course they weren’t paying attention,_ Dib thought bitterly, even with all the yelling and a possible fight, they’d rather ignore him. Pretend he didn’t even exist.

The young girl smiled sleepily up at the teacher. “We’re going to Oooo _hiiiii_ oooooo!” She stretched out the word in a silly sing-song voice then giggled with a lopsided toothy grin as her head lulled back and her knees seemed to give out, forcing Dib to practically hold her up with a grimace.

Ms. Bitters scowled harder and stood to her full height. “Very well,” She said to Dib. “but take the hall pass.” She indicated a large three by four foot rectangle of laminated cardboard with large bold letters reading ‘ **MS. BITTERS’ HALL PASS** ’ leaning up against the wall near the door.

Dib frowned at it, unsure how he was supposed to carry that, two backpacks, _and_ Kailah, all at the same time. Not to mention the part where he wasn’t actually going to the nurse, and was in fact on his way to lead one alien to another in order to save the girl’s life. He looked back up at Ms. Bitters, who was still blocking the door and giving him that ever-present scowl. 

Dib sighed, then reached out with the arm currently occupied by the two backpacks. He fumbled for a moment to grab hold of the top corner of the large hall pass. Ms. Bitters stepped aside and watched as he dragged Kailah, their backpacks, and the pass out into the hall.

_No sign of Zim...Where’d that alien jerkface go?_

Kailah mumbled something sleepily into his ear that he wasn’t able to comprehend as she leaned more into him in the same moment and threw him off balance. He stumbled sideways a few steps before he caught himself. Once he had his balance again, he purposely dropped the hall pass-just out of sight of the classroom door-and used both hands to hold Kailah up as he practically dragged her and made his way towards the front of the skool.

It was a slow process, he was pretty sure that she was only a step or two above actually sleepwalking at this point. She kept mumbling, her words too slurred together and quiet to really make out anything past a word or two, mostly it sounded like reassurances? 

Though really, the worst part _had_ to be that her feet were dragging on the ground so bad she was practically on her knees!

“Come on, at least work with me!” Dib said through gritted teeth as he dragged her through the hall. He finally made it to the doors and kicked one open, then braced his shoulder against it to keep it propped open as he pulled Kailah through.

“ _Ssssorryyyyy._ ” It sounded more like a soft groan than a word. Kailah lifted an arm to help him hold open the door and took a step forward. She ended up missing it by several inches but kept leaning forward as if expecting to make contact with the door at any moment. Dib watched as she stumbled forward a few steps, arm still outstretched. He quickly tightened his grip as he realized she was-

“H-hey! HeyheyHEY!!” He said in a panic as Kailah’s foot missed the first step and she started sliding quickly down the concrete staircase. Dib lunged forward to grab her arm as she slipped out of his grip. If one of the backpack straps hadn’t gotten caught on the door’s handle at that moment, her weight probably would have dragged the both of them right down the stairs. 

Dib kept a tight grip on the bags and Kailah’s arm as they pulled him in seperate directions. The girl ended up falling into a sitting position with a loud _‘oof’_ on the third step from the top, her elbow still firmly in Dib’s grip.

He let out a loud sigh of relief, his legs shaking slightly with adrenalin. 

Dib made sure Kailah was safely stationary on the step and wasn't going to move before he finally dropped her arm and turned to unhook his backpack from the door’s handle. He readjusted both the bags, one on his back, the other firmly slung across his chest, then he moved down the stairs so he was a step below Kailah. Dib helped her up to her feet, he pulled her arm back over his shoulders again while wrapping his other arm around her middle to get a better grip in case she decided to suddenly change direction again. 

Now, with a much better hold on everything, Dib made his way _carefully_ down the stairs. 

“Alright.” Dib said a moment later as he reached the bottom of the staircase. “Where did Zim go off to?” He wondered allowed, pausing and looking around the skool yard for any hint of that green skinned alien.

Kailah mumbled something in response and her head rolled onto his shoulder.

“W-what?” Dib asked, suddenly uncomfortably aware he had one arm wrapped around her waist.

“I _saaaid_ ,” Kailah mumbled only slightly louder than before. “I dunnooo.”

Dib sighed, _Ah, so nothing useful._ He tried his best to ignore the hot feeling on his face, attributing it to the early morning sun and the struggle of lugging around practically all of Kailah’s weight from the classroom to here. And after that little scare on the staircase, of course his heart would be beating a bit harder and faster than normal! That was to be expected.

He leaned his head to the right so he could just reach his glasses with his free hand, and turned on the Thermal setting. He straightened up and slowly scanned the area for any hints of Zim.

The world was an almost dizzying mix of blues, greens, whites, yellows, and oranges. With a few hints of red flying past as cars drove by.

There!

A pretty sizable-and pretty hot-blob was lowering from the sky to land across the street, right in the abandoned lot behind the closed restaurant. 

Dib started walking-half dragging Kailah as he went. He crossed the street the second the coast was clear, and headed excitedly towards the bright orange and red blob. 

As he rounded the corner of the rundown building, Dib saw a cooler (almost completely green/blue with a few hints of dim yellow) humanoid shape with a bright orange spot on it’s back. It was moving around the large orange blob, as if inspecting it.

So, whatever Zim was, he seemed to be cold blooded! Neat! But why was his backpack giving off so much heat? _Oh_ ! _Duh_. It was probably a portable heat source! How else would a cold blooded creature be comfortable and so energetic in this cool autumn weather!?

Dib tried to push those thoughts aside for later as he struggled for a second to switch his glasses back to Normal mode, then a loud gasp of excitement ripped through him. A giant grin split his face in half as he stared at a large, deep purple _spaceship_!

A SPACESHIP!!! An _Alien_ Spaceship! A _Real_ Alien Spaceship!

Well, maybe _large_ wasn’t the right word? But it was certainly larger than a small car! And the engines looked to be about as tall as-if not taller-than Dib himself! It looked like there were four engines total, two in the front and two in the back. _Probably to help with quick and precise flying in zero gravity!_ Dib thought excitedly. A real life Alien Spaceship!! Dib was right! Zim was a real life honest to goodness _space alien_!!!

Yeah, of course Dib _knew_ Zim was an alien! But this ship really _proved_ it! Really made that fact click in his mind. Zim was from outer space!!! Zim was an alien!

And look at the Windshield! It took up just about half of the front end of the craft!! The view must be _amazing_ ! Out in space, stars and planets all around! A small part of his mind noticed an odd triangle shaped insignia painted on the craft, but he couldn’t make himself focus on its possible meaning, cause it was a _spaceship_!

Wait, hold up. It looked like it only had a single bench seat? And it didn’t look like there was any space behind that, not even storage space?...How were the three of them supposed to fit in there? It didn’t look much wider than the back seat of his dad’s hover car...

“GIR!” Zim shouted, snapping Dib’s attention back to the present. What was Zim suddenly so mad about?

The large round windshield opened up and-

“Puppy!!” Kailah said excitedly, taking a few stumbling steps forward, pulling Dib with her as he was caught off guard by her sudden enthusiasm.

A... _thing_ in a green dog costume jumped out of the spaceship and landed on two legs. It looked up at Zim with dead fake eyes-a little felt tongue permanently sticking out of it’s stitched mouth-and saluted.

“Is the Voot ready?” Zim asked it, his arms folded behind his back in a casual yet authoritative stance.

“Yes, Master!” The green dog replied in a tinny voice, still holding the salute. It then added with a high pitched giggle as the salute dropped, “I packed it full of spiders I found at the base!”

_Spiders?!_

“No, GIR. That’s bad.” Zim scolded, though his voice sounded more like he was talking to a child he’d caught eating a cookie before dinner than actually being mad about what the green dog just said. 

“I wanna pet the puppy~” Kailah whined and stumbled forward again, Dib tightened his grip, not trusting what ever that _thing_ was. Zim finally seemed to notice the two of them.

“About time.” He said, folding his arms across his chest as he turned to face them. “Now. Take Zim to the Loughran.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Dib muttered as he was dragged towards the thing in the dog costume. Kailah kept struggling and wiggling in his grip, trying to get closer to it. Dib finally gave up trying to hold her back and let go. She fell to her knees next to it with a lopsided grin.

“So cuuute~” She cooed and started rubbing her hands over the thing’s head. “Who’s a good puppy? You are! Yeeeesss you aaaareee!”

As she started with the weird sleep-drunk baby talk, Dib shook his head and turned to Zim. “Will the four of us be able to fit in that thing?” He asked skeptically as he dropped both backpacks onto the ground, rolling his shoulders stiffly once they were free of all the extra weight.

“I AM!!?” The dog screamed excitedly and flopped onto it’s back as Kailah started rubbing it’s belly, stubby limbs waving in the air. “I’M A GOOD PUPPY!!!?” It laughed crazily in an annoyingly high pitched tinny voice. Dib gave it an uneasy look before turning back to Zim.

“Eeehhh??” Zim gave Dib a confused look. “Oh! Yes! Of course!” He suddenly said with full confidence as he placed both his hands on his hips and puffed out his chest smugly. “GIR!” He snapped, turning towards Kailah and the green dog. “Stop playing with that stoooopid hyuman!”

“Awwww” The dog rolled over and got to its feet before running over to Zim with squeaky little steps and hugged his leg. “But she likes me!”

“I don’t care, GIR.” Zim said simply as he pried the dog off his leg. “Go back and guard the base. I have _very_ important business to take care of!”

“Yes, master!” The dog saluted then froze, not moving.

“...Now, GIR.” Zim said in a tired voice.

“Ooooooh” The dog lowered its arm then let out another crazy, high-pitched giggle before it’s feet exploded in a blue fire and it was suddenly flying erratically away through the air. Dib jumped back and watched it in open mouth amazement. If no one reported seeing that, he’d rip out his own hair!

Kailah burst out laughing as if it was the funniest thing she had ever seen in her life.

Zim growled in annoyance and turned back to Dib, folding his arms tighter across his thin chest. Dib closed his mouth and forced his eyes back on the alien, he could tell by that slight scowl on Zim’s face and the way he stood that he was ready to get this ‘deal’ over with.

“Right.” Dib agreed. He bent and picked the backpacks back up. “The sooner we leave, the sooner we can get this all over with.” He stood up and faced Zim, giving the still laughing Kailah a sideways look he asked, “Want to help me get her in the ship?”

“No.” He responded flatly, not budging from his crossed arms stance, his face somehow both bored and annoyed.

Dib sighed and his shoulders slumped at the thought of having to drag all that dead weight up and into the ship alone. He should have expected as much. He walked over to the ship, slowly drinking in all it’s pink and purple goodness as he tossed the bags up and onto the floor of the cockpit. He could feel Zim’s unhappy scowl prickle on the back of his neck as he did.

Dib then walked over to where Kailah was trying to catch her breath after laughing so hard at the sight of a green dog flying through the sky. As he tried to get her up to her feet, he kept one eye on Zim. Kailah was still mostly dead (albeit giggling) weight, who seemed to have momentarily forgotten how her legs worked. And every time she slipped out of Dib’s grip and thumped back onto the ground she erupted into new bouts of laughter, which made picking her back up all the more difficult.

As Dib struggled, Zim climbed into the ship and pushed the bags into the far corner with his boot. Zim then sat down and started typing away on the console as he waited. If he had a nose, Dib was certain that it would have been wrinkled up in disgust.

After about two minutes of struggling, Dib finally managed to drag Kailah to the side of the ship. He paused to catch his breath and looked up at the ship as he tried to think of the best way to get her inside. Should he try pushing from below, or climb in and try to pull her from above? Would it be easier to just get her to piggie on his back and climb in? He looked back at Kailah, who looked like she was starting to fall asleep after that laughing spree.

“Zim’s patience has run away.” Zim snapped suddenly.

“Wha-?” Dib tried to ask, he turned to look up at Zim but was quickly cut off before anything else had a chance to even leave his lips.

A long, thick metal cable exploded out of Zim’s backpack and-fast as a snake-coiled around both Dib and Kailah in one fluid motion. Dib let out a surprised yelp and tried to struggle free from the too-tight-coils. He only managed a slight wiggle when, suddenly, he felt the ground disappear from under his feet and the wind rush past his face. Before he could truly process what was even happening, the cable was unwrapping from around them and dropping them into the ship's cockpit. It disappeared back into Zim’s backpack with a metallic hiss- _snip_!

And just like that, Kailah and Dib were squished on the bench seat of the ship next to Zim, give or take several inches. 

The windshield snapped shut with a _woosh_ , and just as Dib was trying to wrap his mind around how such a large cable could fit inside such a small metal pack he was slammed with the reality that he was _inside_ a _real life alien_ **_spaceship_ **!!!!! 

And all other thoughts left his mind.

With a thrill of a roller coaster drop in reverse, the ship shot into the air with a few quick button presses from Zim. The ship paused and hovered about a mile above the skool.

 _A MILE!!_ They just traveled a whole mile STRAIGHT UP in less than _two_ seconds!!! And Dib didn’t even feel any ill effects from the G-force or _anything_!

Dib watched with excited fascination (and what he was certain was probably the largest, most _stupid,_ and childish grin he’s ever worn in his life, but he didn’t even care, cause he was in a _spaceship_ !) as Zim tapped away on the console-Oh how he _wished_ he could read the alien writing!!! Dib was pretty sure though that Zim had just turned on some sort of cloaking device; as the outside of the ship that was visible through the windshield seemed to shimmer and become transparent. His eyes soaked in every little detail: the pinks and purples of the interior, the buttons and switches and levers, the city far below with cars crawling along the roads, the blue sky stretched all around them, a few wispy clouds scattered about, the annoyed and impatient look on Zim’s face, the sleeping form of Kailah, the smoke trail below, most likely left by that thing in the dog costume, a flock of geese-

“Dib-stink!” Zim snapped, pulling Dib’s attention back to him. “Zim will not hesitate to _cut off_ your pinky if you do _not_ keep your end of the Deal.” He growled.

“Wha-oh right!” Dib unconsciously clenched his fists against his legs to protect his pinkies. “Yeah, the Loughran..right.” He turned to Kailah and nudged her with an elbow, when she gave a sleepy hum he asked “Which way is Chomp?”

She raised an arm without opening her eyes and pointed due East, then twitched it perhaps ten degrees south. She held it there for about three seconds then her arm dropped like a sack of potatoes and her head rolled back as Zim grabbed the yoke and turned the ship in that direction.

Dib watched every little movement Zim made, trying to memorize what every button did, absorbing everything he could. He was in a spaceship! A real alien spaceship!! How cool was that!

There was a lot of alien writing that Dib couldn’t even try to make any heads or tails of. Dozens of symbols that he was certain meant something but he couldn’t even begin to interpret any of it. Which ones represented letters? Which were numbers? Was it like English where each symbol was a single letter? Or like Chinese, where one symbol could be a whole word or even a phrase? How did the language work? What did it sound like? Was it easy to learn?

The only thing that was even slightly familiar was the steering mechanism. It was a simple ‘Y’ shaped yoke, similar to something you’d find in an airplane, and it seemed to work with the same principles to a plane as well. Dib watched as Zim gripped it with both gloved claws and held it steady. Dib tilted his head to look below the console and noticed that there didn’t seem to be any floor pedals, _so altitude must be controlled by the buttons on the console instead_ ? _Planes use floor pedals for that, right_ ? _Or were those pedals for steering?_ Dib actually didn’t know, now that he thought of it...but either way, the lack of floor pedals would explain why Zim kept pausing to press one or two of the buttons as he drove. Dib scanned the console with his eyes and tried to decipher any indicators on speed or altitude, but it was all so _alien_ that he couldn’t make any sense of it. And that not knowing was thrilling

Too bad Dib was still a little too nervous about Zim threatening to chop off his pinkie, he already had dozens of questions he wanted to ask, but didn’t want to risk losing his fingers by asking them just yet.

"It'sssssookaaay." Kailah slurred sleepily after a few minutes, her head flopping back further onto the headrest. Dib jumped a little, so enthralled by the experience of being in a _real alien spaceship,_ that he’d momentarily forgotten she was there, smooshed between him and the side of Zim's ship (she had to be squished so that Zim had enough room to reach the whole console without touching Dib). "Zim's spacity ship goes very _zooooom_ ... we're coming to _yoouuu_." She let out a sleepy giggle.

Dib raised an eyebrow at her. She had her eyes closed and for all intents and purposes looked like she was sound asleep, though her breathing still seemed a bit labored and her face was still uncomfortably pale.

"Choommmp, I'm okay, reeaally~." She insisted in a soft sing-song voice. "I'm flying in a spacity ship! We’re coming to you very faaast! Faster than a plaaane~. We’ll find out what happened to your kind soon. I prommmmisssse.” 

"What is she going on about now?" Zim demanded in a sharp voice as he reached over to tap a button in front of Dib then returned his gloved claw to the yoke.

"I think she's talking to the Loughran," Dib said, looking at her worriedly. Her face seemed oddly at peace, looking at it made a large, hard lump form in Dib’s stomach. She almost looked like a corpse in a casket. "Maybe she hit her head when she fainted earlier? Either that, or her condition is worse than I thought…I uh, don’t think she realizes she’s talking out loud." He glanced at Zim with a nervous shrug.

“It’sfiiinnnne” She slurred again, making Dib wince.

Zim gave her a confused one-eye squint then turned his attention back to the controls in front of him, tapping on three buttons right next to the yoke in quick succession.

“It’sokaaay. Dib’s with mee. And Zim’s fiiiinne. He haaasn’t done aaanythiing bad, remmmber?”

Dib turned his gaze back to the controls but kept his ear turned towards her.

“You should turn aaaaround aaaagain. We’re commin. Aaaannnd you should get to the pooodd.” She reached a hand up slowly and rubbed at her eye sleepily. “Yeah...Slowly, but yeah.”

Dib glanced out the windshield and could see several lakes and ponds quickly passing below them, they were well over Michigan already! Amazing!

Kailah cracked one eye open for a moment then closed it, her whole body relaxing slowly and her breathing seeming to become more even as she fell asleep.

“How fast are we going?” Dib asked, turning to Zim.

“Eh? Oh, uh…” Zim waved one hand around as he mentally did the conversion. “650 miles per hour? Give or take, Zim is flying slow so we don’t pass over the Loughran.”

Dib almost laughed, Zim thought six hundred and fifty miles per hour was SLOW?! How fast could this ship go!?

“As part of our deal-” Dib began but hesitated when Zim gave him a sideways glare, he cleared his throat and tried again, this time trying to keep his voice more casual. “As part of our deal, am I allowed to at least ask a few basic questions about you? Like your species name, or that metal thing on your back? Or anything about your ship? Or-”

Zim growled to cut him off. Dib quickly shut his mouth and watched as Zim tapped on the console four times-in seemingly random places-then placed both claws back on the yoke.

Dib watched him closely, not really sure what any of that button pressing did just then. He glanced over at Kailah and was ecstatic to see she was starting to get some of her color back!

“Zim will answer one of those questions,”-Dib’s head whipped back around to look at him excitedly-“because I do not want your filthy hyuman tongue calling it by the wrong name. But no more or Zim gets your pinky!” He pointed-what would be considered-his thumb towards the metal thing on his back. “This is called a PAK. That is all Zim will say!”

 _A pack, ok, cool. Simple enough. But what does it doooo??!_ Dib bit his tongue and practically sat on his hands, not wanting to risk his pinkie. He tried to think of non-Zim related alien questions as his left leg started to wiggle.

“How many other aliens are there...in the universe?”

Zim gave him an annoyed look then rolled his eyes and focused back on his driving. “Schmillions.”

_Was that even a real number?_

“Uh, okay. And how many of them are intelligent? Like, how many have formed civilizations and such?” Dib’s leg started bouncing.

Zim’s PAK started making a whirring sound, Dib paused and glanced over at it. It sounded eerily similar to when his Laptop was getting close to overheating and the fan turned on to cool it. Dib’s eyebrow rose in curiosity.

“Trillions.” Zim replied in a clipped voice. Dib noticed the fan noise winding down and his leg started picking back up. Was the PAK like a computer? It was definitely a heat source of some kind, and seemed to have wires stored inside that Zim could manipulate at will? How exactly did that function? What else could it do? 

“And how many of those,” Dib asked, leaning back slightly to try and get a better look at the PAK, “Have managed to conquer space travel?” His leg continued to bounce slowly.

The PAK started making that whirring sound again, Dib then saw with some mild shock and _loads_ of fascination that it seemed to be embedded _right_ into what would be Zim’s spinal cord! 

_So, it’s like he has a computer hooked right into his brain? And-...wait is it glowing?!_

“One hundred twelve thousand thirty two.” Zim said as his PAK went silent again and the glow dimed to nothing.

“Whoa! So few?!” Dib brought his attention back to Zim, wide eyed. “Well, I mean, 112,032 isn’t a _small_ number, but out of _trillions_ of intelligent species?!”

Zim smirked smugly, “Very few are clever enough to create the technology powerful enough to make it past their own solar system. Roughly 63% of that number were actually gifted ships from other races that discovered their planets while exploring.”

Dib tilted his head back thoughtfully-his leg still going at a slow steady pace-he guessed that made sense. After all, even with his dad-the world’s smartest scientist of all time- they’ve only managed to send probes out to pluto. And nothing maned had made it past the moon so far...though, Dib mostly blamed government funding and his dad’s lack of interest in anything space related, rather than the technology itself. He was certain that if his dad actually put in any effort, Earth could be space bound within the next two decades. He pushed his glasses up his nose and paused, frowning softly, actually...if his dad _really_ went all out, the human race could be space bound within the next five years...

His leg slowed to a stop and he put his hand back in his lap, pushing the thoughts away for now. He looked out the windshield, as far as he could tell they were still over Michigan.

“What do you know about Loughran?” Dib asked casually, his eyes tracing a busy highway below.

“Zim will not answer that question.” He said firmly.

Dib glanced at him curiously. By the way Zim refused to acknowledge him-and instead focused on a section of the console right in front of him (that Dib guessed to be showing their altitude as he noticed it showed a mini version of the ship set in a crossline), Dib guessed Zim didn’t actually know that much about Loughran past their name and whatever allowed him to make the ID to begin with. _Probably too proud to admit that he doesn’t know anything more, too_.

“Alright,” Dib shrugged casually. “Well, Kailah gave me some good info on them so I guess it’s okay that you don’t know anything.” He pretended to look outside while keeping Zim in his peripheral.

Zim growled and his grip tightened on the yoke, he glared at Dib out of the corner of his eye. “Zim knows _plenty_.”

“Nah, man, it’s cool.” Dib said with a shrug. “If you don’t know anything about Loughran, I can come up with something else to ask.”

“Zim will not fall for these silly word traps of yours, Dib-stink!” He suddenly leaned towards Dib, eyes narrowed threateningly to slits and teeth bared.

Dib chuckled nervously and held up his hands in surrender, silently wishing there was enough room in the ship for him to lean away from the alien.

“Alright, alright.” Dib said. “You caught me, sorry.” He waited for Zim to pull away and go back to driving the ship before he lowered his hands back down. “And by the way, my name is Dib. Just Dib. And I don’t smell.” He grumbled.

“You reek.” Zim growled.

Dib’s lip twitched, half annoyed, half amused by Zim’s response. He crossed his arms and leaned back in the seat, trying to think of another question as he observed the lettering on the ship’s pink console.

“Have any other aliens ever visited Earth before?”

“Ehh…?” That whirring sound again. “Yes.”

“Really?!” Dib sat up, excited “Which ones? How many? When? How often? Do aliens really abduct cows? How many humans have that kidnapped and experimented on? Did aliens really build the pyramids? What abou-”

“SILENCE!” Zim gripped his plastic helmet-like wig with both claws and squeezed his eyes shut with a fierce grimace. The alien then opened his eyes and glared daggers at Dib. “Your voice is so _annoying_!” He hissed, in a much more annoying voice, Dib would like to add. “No more questions!”

Dib pouted and opened his mouth to protest but something stirred to his right and he glanced over to see Kailah rubbing at her face with both hands. After a moment she lowered them and looked around the cockpit with a slightly confused-yet alert-expression.

“Hey.” Dib said, trying to sound as casual as he could while his eyes darted quickly across her face. She was almost completely back to her normal color, her eyes didn’t seem as bloodshot as they had been, her breathing seemed less labored, and she seemed fully alert and aware of her surroundings. All really good signs.

She sat up and leaned forward, looking out the windshield with awe.

“So, that wasn’t a dream?” She whispered. “We really are in a real alien spaceship?” She turned to Dib with an awed look and he couldn’t help that large goofy grin from returning to his face.

“Yup!” He replied and his left leg started bouncing excitedly again.

“Stop that!” Zim snapped and slapped his knee.

“Ow! Jerk!” Dib glared at him as he rubbed his now stinging knee.

Kailah snorted in amusement then scooted forward a bit on the bench to look past Dib at Zim. “Hey...”

Zim narrowed his eyes and looked at her out of the corner of his eye.

“You’re gonna want to start slowing down.” Kailah said in a polite mater-of-fact voice. “We’re really close.” She pointed down at a thirty degree angle, slightly to the left of their flight path. “They’re down that way, maybe five miles?”

Zim glared harder, not seeming pleased at the way he was being ordered, but he adjusted the flight path and speed of the ship without saying anything. Dib looked out the windshield as the ship started its slow descent. Kailah leaned down and started rummaging through their bags. She found her lunch bag and pulled it into her lap, she unzipped it and started very enthusiastically eating her lunch.

Dib watched her with a confuzzled expression as she started with the sandwich, wolfing it down in four bites, she then chugged her chocolate milk in a single breath. She stuffed the whole string cheese into her mouth at once, chewing it as she ripped open the bag of chips and started upending them into her mouth, quickly catching and eating any spilled crumbs. When she was done, she stuffed all the trash into the bag and tossed it back onto the floor.

“Zim?” Kailah said, leaning forward a little bit more to try and catch his eye.

“What.” He replied icyly, not happy at all, and honestly probably disgusted by her display of hunger. Dib was more of a weird mix of impressed and concerned.

“I just wanna say...I’m really, truly, sorry about what happened yesterday.” Kailah shifted and tucked one leg under herself so her back was leaning against the side of the ship and she was facing Zim. Dib pressed himself into the seat and watched.

Zim seemed...shocked? Confused? Baffled? He kept his eyes forward and gripped the yoke tighter, the corner of his lip twitching down. Was he mad that she was bringing it up? Was he upset that she was apologizing? Dib half wished Zim was easier to read, with his alien features it was sometimes difficult to get a true read on his emotions. 

“There was a lot of confusion, and fear, and a bit of miscommunication.” Kailah continued, her voice very sincere as her hands seemed to play with each other nervously. “But I really should not have reacted that way. I should have never attacked you like that. And I’m really sorry. It was stupid. _Really_ stupid of me, and I just want to say; both of us are _truly_ sorry for how we reacted yesterday.” She paused and looked down. “And I also want to say thank you, too.” 

Dib saw Zim stiffen.

“Thank you? For what.” He asked through clenched teeth. What emotion was that? He seemed...really uncomfortable? Angry? Offended?

“For agreeing to fly us out here.” She kept her eyes on her hands in her lap and squeezed them together nervously. “For...saving my life.”

Dib gave her a worried and sympathetic look. Kailah seemed to feel his gaze on her and glanced up. She gave him a sad half smile, a silent thank you to him in her eyes.

“Again,” She said, now more to Dib than to Zim. “I was really stupid. I’m sorry.” She looked out the windshield for a moment then sighed. “Yeah, I was like a frog in a pot of water...I really should have seen that sooner...”

“A what in a pot of what?” Zim asked sharply, seemingly annoyed about...something.

“A bit more to the south.” Kailah replied calmly, pointing. As Zim adjusted the ship with a growl she started to explain: “It’s an expression, though, probably not a very common one?”

Dib shrugged when she looked at him for confirmation, it wasn’t one he’d ever heard of.

“Yeah,” She let out a small, nervous laugh and her hands squeezed together again. “Probably not a very common one.” She repeated with a soft sigh.

Zim growled in annoyance.

“What does it mean?” Dib asked for him.

Kailah pulled her gaze away from the windshield, “Hm? Oh! Right, sorry!” She rubbed at her nose, embarrassed. Dib wondered what Chomp was saying to her. “Well, it comes from a science project-I think. Basically you have two frogs,” She glanced at Zim, unsure. “Frogs are a type of animal that live on Earth. They’re cold blooded and live in or near water-”

“Zim knows what frogs are, hyuman!” He snapped.

“Oh, okay.” She gave Zim a friendly smile (Dib wondered if she actually wasn’t bothered by Zim’s blunt rudeness, or if she was just pretending to not notice it since he was doing them all such a huge favor). “So, anyway,” She looked at Dib, pretending to explain it to him, her hands moving as she spoke, “in this experiment, you have two frogs. One is placed in a pot of room temperature water and set on a stove.” She hesitated, Dib guessed she was debating on whether or not to try explaining what a stove was. When Zim didn’t give any indication of recognition one way or the other she continued. “The uh stove, is turned on and the water is slowly brought to a boil. The second frog is set in a pot of water on the stove that has already begun to boil.” She glanced out the windshield again as she spoke, her hands falling to her lap as her voice grew soft and distant. “The first frog sits in the water, unable to tell that the temperature is becoming dangerously hot, because it’s changing slowly over time. Meanwhile, the second frog recognizes the dangerous temperature of the water right away, and it quickly hops out...The first frog is slowly cooked alive.”

Zim chuckled darkly, but as Dib made the connection he felt his own face pale. She really was dying earlier, and she hadn’t even realized it.

“Here!” Kailah said suddenly and her whole face lit up. She brought her other leg up onto the seat and stood up on her knees, placing both hands on the console-careful not to hit any buttons-and pressing her face into the windshield. “Right here!”

Zim stopped the ship midair and rapidly typed away at the controles. The ship slowly started a vertical descent. Dib watched with excited curiosity as Zim’s claws flew across the console, the ship easily maneuvered through the thickly packed tree branches without so much as a scratch!

Once the ship was firmly on the ground, Zim raised the windshield and Kailah practically spilled out of the ship headfirst as she quickly climbed out. She struggled to righten herself, arms and legs shaking slightly. She wasn’t even fully on her feet before she started yelling with joy.

“ _Chomp_!!” Kailah had a huge grin on her face and her arms spread wide to either side, as if expecting a hug.

Dib followed her out of the ship-a lot more gracefully. He watched her curiously, thinking about how, just yesterday, she had seemed pretty upset with the Loughran. She even practically just admitted that they had almost killed her-even if it wasn’t intentional. Why was she suddenly so excited for this reunion? Maybe she was still loopy?...No, she seemed to be lucid again-

Suddenly remembering his glasses, his hand flew up to turn on HD mode.

The colors and details all around exploded into vivid and vibrant details as the settings on his glasses switched over. All at once, the trees were no longer a single shade of green or brown, but dozens upon dozens of different shades of each. With hints of the early yellows, oranges, and reds of fall that either hadn’t been visible before switching his glasses setting, or Dib simply hadn’t noticed them. Even though it was mid morning, Dib could actually see hundreds of stars up in the clear, iridescent blue sky! Insects shimmered in the air all around: gnats, ladybugs, bumblebees, june bugs, shield bugs. All of them almost seemed to be glowing and leaving after images behind them as they zipped by. Dib took all of this information in in a heartbeat.

Then, out from the underbrush in front of them exploded a five foot tall, seven foot long, brown and black feathered **_dinosaur_ **!

Dib almost screamed.

HOW HAD HE FORGOTTEN TO ASK WHAT THE LOUGHRAN ACTUALLY _LOOKED LIKE_??!!!!

Dib’s jaw dropped to the forest floor in disbelief as this brown with black stripes dromaeosaur ran full speed towards Kailah! The dinosaur skidded to a halt on the leaf litter and used it’s remaining momentum to quickly wedge it’s neck into the crook of hers, laying its chin flat between her shoulder blades and both wings wrapping around her whole body. Kailah’s arms wrapped tightly around them in response.

Dib starred in stunned amazement, he could see it clear as day with his glasses! As he observed the Loughran, he noticed that it almost seemed to have an odd shimmer to it? The longer he stared, the more obvious it was. It was almost like...Chomp was very slightly opaque? They weren’t seethrough in any sense of the word, but they weren’t completely solid either? It was more like someone turned their opacity down by 10%, maybe a little more...just enough for it to be noticable, but not enough for you to really see anything through them.

That must be how Zim could tell that Chomp was invisible to humans, Loughran probably had this weird opaque look to them no matter what form they took? Dib wondered if Kailah saw them like that too, or if they were completely solid thanks to the Bond...he’d have to ask her later. 

Hugging the Loughran fiercely, Kailah whispered something that Dib couldn’t hear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The frog experiment thing is real, though I do apologize if I didn't explain it well enough...I blame Kailah's current mental state lol
> 
> Now, pay very close attention, there's some "blink-and-you-miss-it" foreshadowing in this chapter *evil giggle*  
> Though, honestly, I like to think I've had a lot of foreshadowing sprinkled in so far (many of which hasn't paid off yet), but the foreshadowing here will have big consequences next chapter ;)


	11. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, heads up! This chapter is a little over 10k and a lot of stuff goes down! Enjoy!

**Chapter 10**

Everything from this morning was a great blurry haze. She was vaguely aware of convincing her mom to let her go to skool. She sorta remembered talking with Dib about... _ something _ ? Then Zim showed up and said the ‘P’ word. 

Kailah blacked out for a bit after that..

She sorta remembered meeting an adorable puppy...or maybe that was a dream? She could have sworn it was green and...able to... _ talk _ ? Yeah, that must have been a dream.

A spaceship? Maybe…

Dib and Zim talking; muffled and unclear what about.

Chomp’s constant worry, anxiety, guilt. Kailah  _ trying  _ to reassure them that she was fine.

Then, slowly, things became clearer. Her mind began to focus. She didn’t feel as exhausted. An overwhelming sense of hunger had begun to replace her exhaustion. A pounding headache joining in as the numbness lifted away. 

She wasn’t fine.

“Hey.” Dib had said in a casual tone next to her as she stirred.

Kailah regained consciousness and focus and realized the spaceship  _ wasn’t  _ a dream! She exchanged large, childish grins-and excitedly geeked out about being in a real alien spaceship-with Dib.

She directed Zim towards Chomp.

She devoured her lunch in record time, but that only made a tiny dent in her strange ravenous hunger. The heachache persisted as a dull throb. She must have knocked it somehow at some point? Most of the morning was still a huge blur.

She gave a heartfelt apology to Zim, which she hoped he accepted-though she couldn’t be certain, he looked more angry than anything else. 

She also thanked him for his help, but that didn’t seem to soften his mood at all.

Chomp made the connection of the frog and the pot. Kailah explained it to Zim and Dib

Then they were there. Where Chomp was. And the ship was landing. And Kailah was falling over herself to get out and reunite with her Bondmate.

And then they were hugging.

“I am so sorry.” Kailah whispered as she hugged them tightly. Finally starting to feel like herself again.

_ Don’t you dare!  _ They hugged her fiercely, careful not to poke her with their claws, but not willing to let her go anytime soon. So many emotions mixed together, building and fighting each other confusingly. Anger at themselves for leaving. Guilt. Worry. Anxiety. Sorrow. Despair at the thought of ‘What if…’. Love. The need to protect. Guilt. The need to protect. Forgiveness. No, it’s not ok. Yes it is. No, it’s not. Yes it is.

Repeating, spiraling, swelling, arguing. Like an angry snowstorm, everything blowing in every which way, blinding, buffering, and all consuming.

Kailah felt like her chest was going to implode with all the conflicting emotions as her stomach demanded more food, and her head continued it’s consistent pounding. When was the last time she drank? Chocolate milk just a few minutes ago, chocolate milk for lunch yesterday, milk with cereal for breakfast before that...soda with dinner the day before...she was probably pretty dehydrated on top of everything else. 

_ Oops _ .

She was also vaguely aware of a wetness on her cheeks as she tried so hard to convince Chomp that she was okay, she was  _ safe  _ now, she was unharmed, everything was okay now, they were together again. They were okay. 

And they fought back with each thought; you almost died, I almost killed you, you almost died, I would have been the reason for your death, my fault. My fault. My fault.  _ I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry. _

“It’s okay,” She whispered, rubbing a hand soothingly down their feathered back as they shook with shaky breaths, their tears spilling from her eyes. “You didn’t know. We didn’t know. I was a frog in a pot. It happened too slowly for either of us to recognize the danger. But it’s okay now, it’s okay now. I’m safe. You’re safe. We’re together. We’re okay, we’re okay, we’re okay.” She whispered soothingly.

After several moments, Chomp finally allowed Kailah’s calming attempts to reach them. She was okay, they were okay, the two of them were okay and together again. Chomp lifted their head slightly and turned their gaze towards Zim and Dib. Zim was still in the ship, arms crossed and face impatient. Dib was standing just outside the ship, mouth open and eyes sparkling with excitement and shock as he watched Kailah.

“He can?” Kailah asked as the two of them finally broke the hug. She stood to her feet (only swaying the smallest bit in her semi concussed state) then turned to face the ship and the two boys.

_ Pretty sure he can. Just look at his face.  _ Chomp thought, slight amusement sneaking in past all their anxiety and guilt as they stood to their full height behind her.

“Hey,” Kailah called, a ghost of a smile lightly touching her lips as she wiped her face dry with her hoodie sleeve. “Chomp just wants to say thank you.” She started walking back towards the ship, her Bondmate a half step behind her. “We really cannot express how grateful we are, to both of you. For everything.”

Zim huffed and looked away, arms folding tighter against his chest.

Dib shuffled his feet awkwardly and mumbled under his breath, “Of course…that’s what friends are supposed to do...right?” Though his eyes never seemed to leave Chomp, watching their every movement with fascination.

Kailah gave him a grateful-albeit tired-smile.

Chomp lightly brushed their muzzle against her shoulder, a question softly passing into her mind. She turned and looked up at Zim and cleared her throat awkwardly.

“Zim?” She tried after he refused to look her way with the throat clearing. “I know it’s a lot to ask, but-” His head suddenly whipped around towards her and he glared icily. Chomp nudged her gently again, to encourage her, and she cleared her dry throat and tried again in a small voice. “Again, we truly are grateful for your help. And really really sorry for attacking you yesterday. We were uh...just wondering if, maybe…” Zim narrowed his eyes further, causing her voice to grow quieter. “Maybe you could-”

“WHAT?!” Zim suddenly shouted, making her jump and tense.

Kailah stuttered for a moment, unable to form a coherent sentence.

“WHAT?!” Zim shouted again, leaning forward. “WHAT?!”

_ I... _ Chomp blinked.  _ don’t think he can hear you... _ The thought came through after a second, with a startled hint of amusement.

Kailah blinked and honestly would have laughed, if she hadn’t been having such a stressful day. She tried again, louder. “Could you take us the rest of the way to the Loughran’s pod?”

“And why should I?” Zim challenged, his voice a normal volume again as he stood up straight and tall above them in the ship, he placed both claws on the console in front of him and looked down at the three of them with an air of superiority.

Kailah glanced at Chomp, they met her gaze then glanced at Dib (who had been slowly inching closer to them and froze when his eyes met theirs). Kailah returned her attention back up to Zim.

_ Thoughts?  _ She asked, slighting tilting her head to the left as she watched Zim.

_ Hard to say...I mean, we’re not exactly his favorite people.  _ They tilted their head to the left-curiously as they watched Dib, who seemed content to just stare back.

_ Then why’d he agree to help in the first place? _

Chomp shrugged, their wings fluffing slightly, as they turned their head back towards Zim.  _ He came into the classroom, demanding my location. He probably agreed to bring you out here because he has...some reason to find me? _

Kailah straightened her head and looked at Chomp with furrowed eyebrows and a small frown. Chomp mentally replayed that morning's interactions in fast forward, helping her remember what she was too exhausted to actually pay attention to: Zim storming in and demanding the Loughran’s location, Dib offering a pinkie promise as a way to tag along, and helped save her life by reuniting the two Bondmates.

_ What do you think he wants with you?  _ She thought.  _ Do you think- _

“STOP THAT!” Zim launched out of the ship in a single bound and landed heavily in front of Kailah, leaning uncomfortably close to her face (and seemingly trying to take advantage of the whole  _ three  _ inches he had on her, judging by the way he was trying to tower over her by standing on his tip toes) while snarling. “Stop that infernal mental talk! Tell Zim what that  _ parasite  _ is saying!”

Kailah’s face hardened into an unreadable mask before she held up a calming hand towards Chomp. She leaned away from Zim slightly but refused to take a step back.

_ Don’t.  _ She mentally warned. She glanced over at her Bondmate, they had their teeth bared and feathers all standing on end as they flexed their wingclaws and took a threatening step towards Zim, the large claw on each foot held high and sharp. They paused but didn’t relax their stance. 

Kailah turned her gaze back to Zim, forcing her face to stay blank and calm as anger bubbled beneath the surface.

Dib stood awkwardly in the background, the Loughran in between him and the other two. He noticed Kailah’s warning hand and oddly calm face as she held Zim’s stare, and how Chomp seemed to pause and watch; which was the main reason he wasn’t interfering himself.

“Zim,” Kailah said calmly, in contrast to Zim’s angry glare. “Our conversation is between us. I am under no obligation to tell you anything that my Bondmate says.”

“Did you not just admit that Zim saved your  _ useless  _ and pitiful life! You owe Zim!” His lips curled back to reveal his oddly wavy teeth. Kailah glanced at them curiously, for a split second her mind scanned through several animal species-trying and failing to find a match to those weird teeth in the animal kingdom. She forced herself to focus back on Zim’s odd fake purple contacted eyes.

“I already thanked you for that.” Kailah pointed out while she loosely crossed her arms as a way to create a bit of a barrier between them. Still refusing to take a step back, even though she could feel his breath on her face. She was a little surprised that it felt slightly warm and dry, like a desert breeze, and didn’t seem to have a scent.

“Zim  _ flew  _ you all the way out here! In the MIDDLE of  _ NOWHERE _ !” His arms flew up to emphasize the trees all around them and he took a half step closer.

“Yes. Thank you for that.” She continued in her calm matter-of-fact voice, still refusing to take a step back. “But that doesn’t give you a right to a private conversation.” She could feel Chomp relax a little behind her, as they began to understand her plan. They were still poised to jump though, if Zim dared try anything.

Zim let out a menacing growl, then made several strange clicking and gurgling noises as he threw his hands over his head. He took a few steps back and bent over, gripping at his wig in frustration. He looked like he was mentally screaming as he let out a long, low, soft hiss. He suddenly stood up straight, his face a smug mask as he held up his littlest finger.

Kailah glanced at it then met his eyes again, raising an eyebrow. A little startled by the sudden change in mood.

“Zim will bring you to the pod. If you translate everything that the Loughran says.” His eyes narrowed with a smug smirk. “Deal?”

Years of keeping a blank face while having a mental conversation with an invisible alien had prepared Kailah for this very moment. Instead of a triumphant grin, or a smug smirk of her own, or even a small laugh, her face was perfectly free of all emotion, not even a twitch.

Maybe she should learn how to play poker?

“Hmm,” She hummed thoughtfully, as if she was really having to think about it. Kailah glanced over at Chomp, who had picked up on her plan several moments ago and already had their own face looking bored with half lidded eyes as they pretended not to look at Zim. Dib stood just behind them, an eyebrow raised as he tried to determine where exactly this conversation was going.

Kailah looked back at Zim, folding her arms just a little tighter as she held his gaze. “How about, you take all of us”-She swept one hand in a sideways arch to include Dib before crossing it again-”to the pod- _ safely _ -then, when Chomp is finished with what they need to do. You take all of us back home...safely. And, in return, I’ll translate some of the stuff Chomp says.” She held up a finger as Zim opened his mouth to interrupt her, “I say  _ some _ , because if I were to relay  _ everything _ , you’d literally hear every single thought, like:”-She took on a mocking tone, about two octaves lower than her normal speaking voice, and spoke rapidly-”I can’t believe it! Two and a half days is way too long to go without drinking water! That was so irresponsible of you! I can’t believe I didn’t catch that soon. First chance we get I’m going to force you to drink a glass. That’s why your head’s pounding so much! Though, I’m pretty sure you hit it when you fainted earlier...I really hope you didn’t get a concussion. This is all my fault. And why are you so hungry right now? It’s only been a day since your last meal, but it feels like it’s been almost a week! I hope that isn’t because of what I did; leaving you like that...Oh, I’m so sorry. This is all my fault! I almost killed you...I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if that happened. I-...” She squeaked in surprise and jumped slightly as she felt something poke her lower back.

Chomp and Kailah’s heads both snapped around in erie unison to stare at Dib in bewilderment. Zim squinted one eye at the sudden shift (though really, he was about two words of that monologue away from screaming SILENCE).

Dib froze, his hand touching the feathers on Chomp’s back. He withdrew his hand quickly-as if it suddenly caught fire-his ears and cheeks started glowing red.

Kailah blinked at him, startled for a moment, then burst out laughing. The look on his face!! He looked so  _ horrified  _ and embarrassed at the same time! And his face was suddenly so  **red** ! She almost doubled over laughing.

Her laughter seemed to make his face change from a horrified/embarrassed look to a horrified/enraged/offended/sad look, and that quickly made her reign in the laughter as she realized he didn’t find it funny at all, and she’d just hurt his feelings.

“Sorry,” She gave him what she hoped was a friendly and apologetic grin, trying her best to suppress the giggles. She glanced at Chomp for a moment-who nodded-then she nodded at Dib. “It’s okay, you just caught us off guard. But Chomp says you can touch them if you want, just ask next time, dude.” She let out an amused chuckle and grinned at him.

Dib muttered something under his breath and looked down at his feet, his face somehow even more red as he stuffed his hands into his coat pockets. Kailah didn’t quite catch what he said, but she turned back to Zim and cleared her throat, trying to put on a serious face again.

“Yeah, So,” She said, trying to get back on track. “I’ll translate  _ some  _ of Chomp’s thoughts, if you take us all to the pod safely, then back home safely  _ before  _ nightfall.” She casually held up her pinkie. “Dea-?”

Zim roughly gripped her pinkie with his gloved digit and grinned with all his teeth. “Deal.”

He let go, and Kailah couldn’t help the feel of goosebumps running all along her body as her arm fell limply to her side. Why did that grin make her think she just made a deal with the devil? 

Zim turned a sharp about-face then marched back towards his ship, climbing into the cockpit in one smooth practiced motion.

Kailah rubbed at one arm through her hoodie sleeve absentmindedly, trying to smooth her skin as she turned towards Dib. The boy still looked fully embarrassed and refused to look up from his shoes, his hands buried deep in his trench coat pockets as he seemed to be sulking in his own thoughts.  _ I think I may have hurt his feelings...laughing at him like that.  _ She thought guiltily.

_ Honestly, he shouldn’t have tried to touch me without asking some sort of permission. It’s rude, especially when you were in the middle of negotiations. _

_ Yeah...but still.  _ Kailah walked around Chomp and tilted her head slightly at Dib. When he didn’t give any indication that he knew she was there, she lightly kicked the toe of his shoe with her own.

Keeping his head down and shoulders hunched, Dib looked up, peering at Kailah over top of his glasses, he didn’t look like he wanted to talk to her. She gave him a half smile.

“Come on, Zim’s gonna take us the rest of the way to the pod. Plenty of exciting alien drama; mysteries to be solved. We’ll get to ride in a spaceship again.” She turned so she was standing shoulder to shoulder with him, then nudged his playfully with her own. He turned his whole head to look away from her. “I promise we’re not mad at you or anything…” She said in a soft voice, his shoulders tensed more and he scowled at the trees to the left of the clearing. “I’m sorry I laughed...your face was just-...super hilarious.” She said in an apologetic voice, then sighed softly when his scowl deepened. That definitely wasn’t the right thing to say.

“Well!?” Zim shouted from the ship. “Let's get this over with! Zim has things I need to do today!”

Kailah glanced over at the ship and gave Zim a casual shrug before turning back to Dib, tilting her head apologetically at him.

_ Ask him to sulk in the ship, please. I really want to get going.  _ Chomp thought, shifting their weight from foot to foot.

_ He’s not used to... _ She searched for the right words.  _ He’s not used to having friends. He’s used to being ignored, bullied, or worse. He probably doesn’t understand friendly teasing. I think he might be just as mad at himself for putting himself in that position, as he is at me for laughing at him. I don’t think he actually knows how to come back from this, so he’s put up a wall and froze.  _ She met Chomp’s eyes.  _ We just have to show him that it was a simple misunderstanding, and no hard feelings. _

_ Yes, great, but can we do that from inside Zim’s ship? Now that you’re safe, there is the more urgent matter of finding out about the rest of my kind...we can deal with Dib’s feelings on the way.  _ A small sense of urgency passed through the Bond and tugged at her, urging her to keep moving, to deal with this later.

“Zim demands to know WHAT IS TAKING SO LONG!”

Kailah opened her mouth to tell Zim to have some patience, when Dib suddenly turned and walked towards the ship, cutting in front of her to do so. He silently climbed in and sat with his arms crossed, eyes burning into a random spot on the console.

Chomp walked up beside Kailah, a sense of impatience wafting from them as they placed their head on her shoulder. She sighed, feeling bad for Dib but agreeing they should get moving. She reached one arm up and gently cupped the side of her Bondmate’s muzzle. She waited as Chomp changed their form into something smaller, something that would easily fit in the cramped ship. Their form darkened and blurred as they shifted, their body shrinking and coiling loosely around her neck as they took the shape of a large Ball Python-draped like a scarf over her shoulders-looping twice.

Kailah then made her way back to the ship, once Chomp was settled around her neck, and climbed in.

Before she was even seated, Zim was tapping away at the console. The windshield swooshed closed with a loud  _ snick  _ and the ship quickly started to rise. Kailah was forced into the seat thanks to the unexpected upwards motion, and Chomp rubbed their little snake head against her chin soothingly to keep her from yelling at Zim.

“Well,” Zim snapped impatiently once the ship was well above the woods and hovering for several seconds. “Which way is this  _ pod _ .”

“East,” Kailah said, unsure exactly which direction that was now, seeing that she no longer had Chomp as a homing beacon. “Uh...we should start to recognize the area as we get closer. Once we have an idea of where we are, Chomp is pretty confident that they can find their way back to where they left the pod.”

Zim tapped away at the console then grabbed the yoke and started flying east.

***

Dib was such an idiot!

Why did he think it would be okay to just reach out and touch the invisible shapeshifting telepathic space alien!?

Of course it was a  _ stupid  _ thing to do!

Of course Chomp and Kailah would notice.

...of course Kailah would laugh at him…

She laughed at him. She didn’t laugh with him. Or at the situation. She laughed  _ at  _ him. 

_ She immediately stopped and apologized when she saw I didn’t find it funny.  _ No. That didn’t matter. She had still laughed. She had still mocked. She even admitted to him, after the fact, that she was laughing at the look on his face. The horrified, embarrassed,  _ terrified  _ look of regret that was all over his face as he realized exactly what he’d just done. 

The stupid, idiotic, moronic thing he’d just done.

She laughed at him. Just like all the other kids always laughed at him. She laughed in his mortified face.

_ She seemed genuinely sorry though...when she was standing next to me; nudging and speaking in that soft apologetic voice.  _ Just an act. Dib was certain. Just cause she’s been friendly towards him and shown in the past that she was capable of sudden mood swings, didn’t mean that apology was real. She probably was just trying to lower his guard again so she could laugh more later.

Dib glanced to his right, Kailah was sitting there, looking out the window casually; watching the landscape pass by underneath. The snake shaped Loughran was watching him with unblinking and unreadable cold eyes.

Dib narrowed his eyes at them, feeling his frown deepen and his chest tighten. His eyes were starting to feel dry and irritated with the strain of his glasses. He turned his head away with a soft ‘humph’ and reached up to turn them off. How long was he supposed to leave them off after the thirty minute time limit?

He pushed the thought away, he’ll deal with that later. He looked to his left to watch Zim drive, his earlier enthusiasm and excitement about being in a real alien spaceship was completely soured now. The alien had both gloved claws on the yoke and seemed to be watching a display on the console-where alien writing was scrolling by quickly. He reached over and tapped a few buttons, the words disappearing, then returned his grip to the yoke and looked out the windshield. 

Dib was too deep in his sulk funk to even find the energy needed to spare to try to work out what that could have been about.

Why had he been so stupid? He looked down at his hands in his lap, flexing his fingers. Chomp had felt really soft...the feathers were so fluffy, and a little warm, they felt so real under his touch. And they were visible with his new glasses, which means they really were just invisible and not some alien ghost thing. Dib let out a breath and tried to subtly steal another sideways glance at Kailah.

...She  _ had  _ stopped laughing pretty quickly when she realized the sound was crushing his soul...then she’d come over and apologized, sounding like she really meant it. Maybe…

Maybe Dib was being extra stupid? Not just for touching Chomp without permission, but, also, for being this upset over being laughed at?

He looked back down at his hands and took a slow breath in. Maybe he should-

“Oh! Hello little friend!” it was said in the same tone of voice as someone who found an unexpected cat while walking down the street.

Dib looked over confused, Kailah was bent down, picking something up off the floor.

_ No. _

She had this honest-to-goodness  _ affectionate  _ look on her face as panic rose up in Dib’s chest.

“Look who I found!” She turned her smile to him as her hand moved in an arch towards his face.

_ NO!!!! _

Dib panicked and freaked out, completely forgetting where he was, he tried to jump to his feet and away from the dull gray spider in her open hand.

He slammed his full weight into Zim.

And then, the whole world seemed to spiral out of control.

The alien ship must have done fifteen barrel rolls in the span of two seconds. 

Dib heard several loud screams...he was pretty certain he was one of them. He felt like he was going to throw up then pass out with the sudden G-force spinning them around.

**_THWACK!!_ **

The ship was now rapidly spinning head over tail.

**_THWACK!!_ **

They were spinning in a very disorienting diagonal. Still screaming.

**_thwick-thwick-thwick-thwick-thwickthwickthwickthwick-THWACK!!!!!_ **

Dib was thrown into the windshield with Kailah and Zim as the ship suddenly came to a jarring halt.

Dib groaned in pain, hearing the sentiment mimicked by the other two on either side of him. He slowly opened his eyes and realized he’d lost his glasses at some point during all of that. Dib squinted, his face was pressed against the windshield and he could see ground below them, taking up his whole vision. He moved his head to check on the others.

Zim was hissing and clicking angrily, half pinned under Dib. Kailah looked dazed, her hands cupped protectively together against her chest as she seemed to be sitting upside down next to him. Or was he the one upside down? He honestly couldn’t tell, he was pretty certain he’d hit his head several times during the crash.

Oh...Oops. 

Dib winced as he realized he just caused them to crash the ship in the middle of who knows where.

_ STUPID! STUPID! STUPID! _

Movement caught his attention, he looked back over at Zim, squinting to focus on what the alien was doing.

It looked like he was reaching towards the dashboard?

The four of them were unceremoniously dumped out of the ship as Zim pressed a button and the windshield flew open. 

Thankfully, the ground was less than five feet below them.

Still, it was not a soft landing.

“Ow...” Dib muttered as he landed painfully on his side. He could hear Kailah let out a soft whimper next to him as she laid on her back.

“WHAT ON  _ IRK  _ WAS THAT!” Zim was on his feet, standing over the two pre-teens, seemingly uninjured as his face flushed a lovely darker green, with what Dib could only assume was pure rage.

“Uh…” Dib squinted up at him, wait...was Zim bald?? No, wait, he seemed to have two black strips of hair running parallel on his head?! What??? Dib blinked, feeling dazed.

“I am so sorry!” Kailah was struggling to sit up, her hands still cupped in front of her. “I...yes, Chomp, this was totally my fault!” She was looking at her shoulder sternly, then winced. “I am, I am.” She muttered, lowering her hands to the ground and opening them. The blurry blob of a spider scurried out of her hands and started running in erratic zigzags away from her.

Dib quickly pushed himself into a sitting position and crawled backwards in panic, trying to keep his distance from it at it scurried into the underbrush. Dib backed up right into Zim’s legs.

Zim very roughly, rudely, and painfully kicked Dib away from him.

“Ow! Hey!” Dib struggled to his feet, hugging his ribs with one arm. “What was  _ that  _ for?!” He glared at the blurry alien.

“YOU ARE THE REASON WE CRASHED!” Zim screeched in a very painful high pitched voice. “YOU  _ STUPID  _ SMELLY HYUMAN! WITH YOUR GINORMOUS OVERGROWN HEAD! YOU SLAMMED INTO THE MIGHTY  **ZIM** (!) AND MADE US  **CRASH** ”

Dib grimaced and covered his ears at the shouting. He opened his mouth and shouted back: “IT WASN’T MY FAULT! AND MY HEAD’S NOT THAT BIG!” he was also very tempted to just punch the screaming alien in the face to make him shut up.

“Your head is the BIGGEST Zim has ever seen!! Zim is amazed it was even able to fit inside the Voot!” Zim was suddenly standing close enough that Dib didn’t have to squint to see him without his glasses.  _ Oh! Neat! _ The part of Dib’s brain that had no self preservation suddenly shouted; Zim wasn’t mostly bald with weird parallel strips of hair, those were  _ antennae! _

And the way they were pinned to Zims head, and that darker shade of green on his face...oh...oh boy, he was  _ really  _ mad.

A hand gently, yet firmly, gripped Dib’s shoulder. A second hand found its way onto Zim’s.

“Alright. Hey! Enough of that.” Kailah said, pulling the two apart and standing between them, her hands hovering in front of their chests. Dib glanced down at her hand and noticed three angry looking red welts developing on her palm.

_ How’d that…? Oh right...ouch.  _ He remembered her releasing the spider after the crash. Dib shivered as his skin started to feel like dozens of insects were crawling all over him, had that spider been in the ship the whole time?! How many more were there? He hopped back a few steps and started whacking his hands over his arms and his back to try and get rid of the phantom bugs crawling all over him.

“What are you doing hyuman.” Zim snarled in disgust.

“Never mind that.” Kailah turned her full attention to Zim, “How quickly do you think you can get your ship running again?”

Dib took his trench coat off and started to violently shake it out.

“EH?!” Zim glared at her then his gaze slowly slid towards his Voot. His anger seemed to momentarily dissipate as he surveyed the damage with a calculating eye. The ship was wedged very tightly between two large oaks and it didn’t look like it would be easy to unstick. Zim marched around to the other side. 

_ Flirk!  _ Engine Number Two was almost completely disconnected! The only thing holding it on to the rest of the ship were two thick cables, everything else was severed! Zim gritted his teeth,  _ flirking hyuman!  _

The other three engines still seemed mostly intact-albeit Engine Number Four was dented a little too much for comfort, it would still carry the ship. Number Two was the main problem. And Zim didn’t have any of his tools or spare parts! And they were too far from the base for him to radio GIR with his PAK...and yeah, he could call the little robot using the ship’s computer, but it would take GIR way too long to come get him...actually, GIR’s own fuel reserves would probably run out before it could fly all the way out here.  _ Flirk. _

“Well?” the host-girl asked, her tone more worried curiosity than impatient. Zim looked down and saw her looking at him from underneath the other side of the Voot, the Loughran still wrapped around her neck.

Zim sighed and ran his claws over his antennae...wait... _ FLIRK _ ! WHERE WAS HIS WIG?!

“Don’t look at Zim!!” His PAK legs exploded out and quickly carried him up into the Voot as he started digging around the mess inside for his wig.

The host-girl let out a soft hum in agreement then snorted in amusement, giving the Loughran a smug smirk.

“What!” Zim demanded, glaring down at the two of them, his claws slamming down on the edge of the Voot’s opening, antennae still pinned back in anger. “Zim demands you translate that parasite’s words! Or Zim gets your  **pinky** !!”

The host-girl had the  _ audacity  _ to roll her eyes! At  _ Zim _ !!

“Okay,” She said, looking up at him and holding up her pointer finger. “One: They are not a parasite. Two,” She held up a second finger, “Technically you crashed, thus the whole “take us to the Pod, then home,  _ safely _ ” part of the deal has been broken....so uh, I should be taking your pinkie-”

“LIES!! The crash was the Dib-stink’s fault! Not Zim’s!!”

“THIRD!” the host-girl said, trying to talk over him. “Chomp said ‘took him long enough to realize’.”

Zim glared daggers at the black and brown meaty rope coiled around the host-girl’s neck. He could have sworn he saw smug mockingness in its little beady eyes. If he hadn’t gotten a direct order from his Tallest not to kill it, only to observe, Zim would definitely do... _ something _ violent...to get his revenge for that  _ parasite  _ mocking him!

The host-girl and her pest seemed unconcerned with Zim’s glares. She turned away from Zim and started talking to the Dib-stink, though Zim noticed that the Loughran kept its beady, unblinking eyes on Zim as he went back to looking for his wig.

“Dib?” Kailah asked. “How are you doing?”

“...fine.” He mumbled, squinting at the woods around them.

“I’m sorry.” She took a few steps towards him, her head tilting slightly in sympathy and apology. “I didn’t realize you were scared of spiders, I never would have held it towards you if I’d known.”

“I-I’m not afraid of spiders!” Dib protested, his voice going an octave too high to be believable. “You...you just caught me off guard! That’s all!”

_ Heh, yeah right. He was more afraid of that tiny thing than the girls at our old skool were of yellow jackets. _

_ Shh, be nice.  _ Kailah thought back, playfully scolding.

_ Why should I?  _ Chomp replied, not nearly as friendly. _ Thanks to his overreaction we’re stranded in the middle of the woods with no food, no shelter, and no way to the pod or home. Plus it’s a miracle none of us were seriously injured in that crash! We could have died! _

_ But we didn’t.  _ Kailah pointed out as she reached up to stroke the snake’s scales-they were smooth and warm to the touch-she sent calming thoughts through the Bond with each gentle pat. 

Dib turned his squinting gaze towards her. “What are they saying?” He asked in a softer voice.

“They’re just grumpy about this whole situation.” She responded, then started gently uncoiling the salty snake from her shoulders. “Are you okay?” She asked him again.

“Yeah?” Dib answered, a small shrug. “Nothing’s broken, just a lot of bruises I’m sure.”

Kailah nodded and knelt to place the Loughran onto the ground. “Same.” She stood back up slowly and frowned at her palm. “Mostly.” She lowered her hand back to her side, her fingers already starting to feel a little too stiff to bend. “Though, I think I hit my head about three times more than I would have prefered, which just adds to this killer headache I have.” She said, rubbing the back of her head.

“Sorry,” Dib sighed, the same repeating cycle of  _ Dib you’re such an idiot!  _ picking back up in the back of his head. If he hadn’t been so angry at himself for getting so angry and embarrassed over Kailah laughing at him, then he probably wouldn’t have freaked out so much as that spider moved towards his face (he shivered at the memory of the arachnide moving in way too close way too fast). If he hadn’t panicked, then they wouldn’t have crashed.

“It’s my fault.” Dib looked up as Kailah spoke. “I wasn’t thinking straight,” She explained, “I momentarily forgot that most people either hate-or are afraid of spiders...and such.” She paused, and Dib wasn’t sure if she was thinking or listening. “I think I may have a slight concussion.” She confided as she gave a small sad, awkward sounding laugh.

“Ouch.” It was all he could think to say. What could he say? 

“Get out of Zim’s ship!” The green skinned alien was shaking his fist in the air, still wigless.

Dib looked over and squinted harder, he saw  _ something  _ small floating in the air. It was moving right towards him?? 

Dib watched in confusion as the small blurry thing moved closer at a quick walking speed.

His glasses paused and hovered midair in front of him.

“Oh!” Dib reached up and took them. “Thanks!” He smiled awkwardly at the air before looking down at his glasses and frowned. How was he supposed to explain this to his dad!? The left lense had a huge jagged Y crack, Dib put the glasses on and let out a disappointed groan. Of course the frames were bent too!

“Sorry.” Kailah said in sympathy.

“It’s not your fault.” Dib muttered, he tried turning on HD mode and instantly regretted it. With the left lense cracked, only the right one changed settings and the disorientation of seeing normally out of one eye and super high ultra definition with the other made him extremely nauseous. He quickly turned the setting off. At least they still worked as normal glasses... 

Even if he had to push them up his nose every three seconds. It was still better than constantly squinting.

“What happened? Are you okay?” Kailah was giving him a curious look.

Dib waved his hand vaguely as he waited for the feeling of nausea to pass. Though, even with his stomach roiling, he couldn’t help but notice her concern. “I’m fine. Glasses are just busted, I’ll have to fix them later.”

“I’m so-”

“It’s not your fa-”

“Still…”

There was an awkward silence. Dib pushed his glasses up his nose.

Kailah looked to a spot beside her and shrugged, sighed, then looked towards Zim.

Their pilot had found his helmet-of-a-wig and was straightening it on his head. He double checked that it was on correctly in the reflection of the ship’s console then started smoothing out his tunic until he felt presentable again.

“E.T.A?” Kailah called out casually.

“EH?” Zim leaned forward, one eye glaring.

“Estimated Time for how long it will take to get the ship flying again.” Kailah offered in a rather friendly tone considering the situation.

“Eh…” Four long and thin metal legs suddenly sprouted from Zim’s PAK. The alien used them to climb around the outside of the ship towards the busted engine. (Dib shivered as he noticed how much it resembled a spider checking on it’s web). “Give Zim...four Urth hours.”

“Four?!” Kailah quickly approached the wreckage, circling around it to look up at Zim. “You can’t be serious!”

“What do you expect  _ stoooopid  _ hyuman! Zim only has the tools in my PAK! We are in the middle of a... _ fffffilthy _ ! Disgusting! Ugh,  _ revolting _ ! Primitive Urth forest!” Zim waved his arms around to emphasize the lack of technology around them.

“Yeah, but still! Four hours?!” She looked towards Dib, desperation, anxiety, and a hint of panic in everything from her body language to her breathing.

“He,” Dib hesitated, pushing up his glasses as he tried to find the right words. “He has a point...we’re in the middle of nowhere.” He glanced around the woods then back at the ship. “Four hours seems pretty reasonable considering how bad that engine looks.”

Kailah ran her hands through her hair, pulling at it, her eyes darting around the woods nervously. She paused, nodded, then closed her eyes. Her hand loosened as she took a deep breath in. Then her hands moved forward to her face and she did that stress-relief-rubbing-thing that Dib was really starting to think was a strong habit of hers. She slowly let the breath out and lowered her hands. She nodded again and opened her eyes, looking down at her spider bitten hand with a hint of a sour expression.

One of Zim’s PAK legs changed into a welder’s flame, the noise catching Dib’s attention as it started poking at the engine.

Kailah walked back towards Dib, eyes on the ground. Dib turned his attention back to her with a half frown, pushing his hands into his pockets.

She paused a few feet from him and kicked at a loose branch, then pushed a few leaves around with her foot before she sat down with a huff. After a moment, Dib took his hands out of his pockets and sat where he stood, watching as she methodically started to tear up a leaf.

“You can try,” She mumbled with a shrug, her eyes still on the leaf as she worked on it. “I doubt you’ll spot anything close though.”

Based on the volume and lack of eye contact, he figured she was talking to Chomp. So, Dib started drumming on his knees, unsure what else to do with his hands as he listened and watched her.

“Stiff, but I’ll be fine. It was only a house spider, I’m pretty sure they're not venomous.” She paused. “Yeah I’ll ask.” She lowered the leaf and looked up at Dib, raising her voice slightly. “Do you think you have any water?”

“Water?” Dib paused in his drumming and looked toward the ship thoughtfully, pushing his glasses up. “ _ Technically _ , I do...yeah.”

“Technically?” Kailah gave him a very confused look.

Dib shrugged awkwardly and rocked slightly. “It’s uh...holy water.” Why did he feel embarrassed to admit that?

Kailah glanced to her right then back at him. “Like...from the basin in a church?” Did she look like she wanted to laugh again? It definitely looked like the corner of her lip was twitching a little as her eyebrows came together in confusion. Like she was amused and confused at the same time.

Dib forced himself to look away and started drumming softly again. “No.” he hesitated. “I uh...bought a 36 pack from the store and...had the local priest bless them all.” He cringed inwardly and used his glasses as an excuse to cover his face for a moment. Why was he finding it so hard to admit this? He had been so proud of the idea when he thought of it! He had even bragged about it on all the cryptid forums he followed. He never would have hesitated admitting this to anyone else...was it cause he actually cared what she thought? He definitely didn’t want her laughing at him again.

She didn’t say anything. Dib didn’t want to see whatever emotion may have been on her face.

“Oh!” Kailah said triumphantly. Dib jumped in surprise at the sudden noise and looked at her. She was grinning in a friendly way. “For vampires and stuff, right?” She laughed a little, “Took me a moment, but that’s clever!”

“You-you think so?” Dib rubbed the back of his neck, suddenly feeling modest.

“Yeah!” She looked to her right, “Hm?” She paused. “Oh, right.” she scratched her nose and gave the air a small, awkward and apologetic smile before looking back at Dib. “Do you uh...think it’s safe to drink?”

Dib shrugged, feeling himself relax a bit, “Should be. It’s still sealed from when I bought it, and as long as you’re not possessed by a demon or something, then it’s safe to drink.”

“Cool!” She hesitated, “Is it okay...if I…”

“Of course!” Dib quickly got to his feet, ignoring the slight feeling of lightheadedness as he did. “Yeah, of course, I’ll go get it.”

“Oh! You uh, don’t have to…” She said awkwardly, looking like she was struggling to her own feet. “I can-” Her face paled slightly and she sat back down muttering “I’m okay, just light headed.” She half heartedly waved a dismissive hand to the empty space on her right.

“I’ll get it.” Dib said again, a bit more serious as he gave her one more look to make sure she was okay before moving towards the ship.

Zim was perched on the edge of the Voot, messing with the wires of the engine with both gloved claws and PAK leg tools. He was muttering to himself in another language-that sounded surprisingly similar to the space message Dib had recorded the other night now that he thought about it.

Dib paused and watched Zim work. The boy tried to discern individual words, but the alien was muttering too softly for him to really pick anything out past the irritated tone, just soft clicks, hisses, and harsh syllables. Dib pushed up his glasses and turned his gaze towards the cockpit of the ship and paused, it was still about five feet above the ground...how was he supposed to get his bag?

He raised his arm and stood on his tippy toes, just barely touching the lip of the ship. He could jump and grab hold? Is he strong enough to pull himself up though? It didn’t look like there was much to grip either, all smooth edges and a flat console.

“Get away from Zim’s ship!” Zim was suddenly hovering above Dib, PAK legs suspending him down from the ship like a spider hanging from its web. “Haven’t you done enough damage today!”

“I just need my backpack.” Dib shot back, fists and jaw clenching as he refused to back away.

One metal leg reached into the ship, Zim’s purple contact eyes never leaving Dib’s. 

Something smacked into Dib’s chest with enough force to make him stumble back a few steps, he started coughing as the wind was knocked out of him.

“There.” Zim snapped. “Now away from the Voot,  _ hyuman _ !” 

“Yeah, whatever, space jerk.” Dib muttered as he bent to snatch up his bag. He stomped back over to where Kailah was sitting, rubbing his chest with irritation.

“You okay?” She asked as Dib sat down and opened his bag.

“Yeah.” He muttered. He adjusted his glasses with one hand as he started digging through his bag. He pulled various things out and set them aside as he looked; text books, notes, homework, his homemade EMF machine, pencil case, ziplock bag of garlic, silver spoon, ah-there it was-the unopened bottle of holy water! Dib held it out and Kailah took it with a small smile and a silent nod of thanks.

She opened the cap and started chugging it. After a few large gulps she waved her spider bitten hand off to her right with an irritated look, after a few more gulps she lowered the bottle begrudgingly.

“Fine.” She growled. “Yes, I know. But I’m thir- Yes, I know. But-ugh fine.” She rolled her eyes, took a small sip, then lowered the bottle. “Happy.” She looked to her right. “Alright, now, there’s no reason to be so smug.” She said, trying to hide a smirk of her own face, her voice suddenly more lighthearted as she took another small sip.

“Uh?” Dib gave her a confused look. He suddenly wondered if he could try the Thermal setting on his glasses without getting that nauseous feeling. Or maybe he should just try being a pirate and close his left eye while using the HD mode? That would probably damage his eyesight faster though...wouldn’t it? Or at least it would damage his eyes unevenly? The Thermal setting was most probably the safer option...though it’d still probably strain his eyesight, right?

"Hm?” She looked at him and Dib startled out of his thoughts. “Oh! Right, sorry” She gave an awkward laugh and took a small sip of water. “Yeah,” she sighed in agreement to something Chomp must have said. “This is definitely a concussion.” she muttered before taking another sip. She turned her attention back to Dib and he raised an eyebrow. “So, if you’re dehydrated, it’s best to take small sips.” She started to explain, though Dib still felt like he might be missing a lot of information leading up to that sentence. “Chomp’s scolding me for gulping it, cause it’ll make me sick. And right now, I can’t really afford to vomit, cause, ya know.” She waved her free hand vaguely at the woods around them as she took another sip. “Plus, you know, this is the only bottle of water we have. And Chomp doesn’t really,” She hesitated and lowered her voice to a whisper. “They don’t really trust Zim can get the ship up and running before nightfall.” She took a sip then spoke at a normal volume. “But they’ve always been a worrier, I’m sure we’ll be fine.” She said dismissively with an optimistic smile.

Dib glanced towards the ship, “Zim’s pack seems pretty versatile.” He admitted, seeing that the welder’s torch had been replaced with a cutting saw. “But the damage is pretty extensive...four hours may be more optimistic than realistic...but as long as he doesn’t need any major replacement parts; I’m sure he’ll have it fixed before it gets dark.” Dib pushed back his sleeve and looked at his watch; a little after ten. “Though, we’ll definitely most likely be late for dinner.” He sighed.  _ Doubt my dad would notice though, and I know Gaz won't care. _

As if on queue, Kailah’s stomach let out a loud rumble and she seemed to wince at the pain.

“I’m fine.” She sighed in response to either Dib’s worried look or Chomp’s silent mental question. She took another small sip. “Just, really hungry.” She looked at the bottle thoughtfully and swirled it’s contents, already down to the last third. She shrugged and took another sip. “You can try, but like I said; I doubt there’s anything nearby.”

“Try what?” Dib readjusted his glasses then switched them to Thermal mode. He was right, it wasn’t nearly as nauseating or disorienting. It  _ was  _ a little odd seeing half normal and half Thermal Imaging, but at the same time; it  _ did  _ make it easier to tell what exactly he was looking at on the Thermal side, when he had his normal vision to compare it to. Next to Kailah sat the Loughran-in what Dib assumed was in it’s dromaeosaur form based on its size. Though the angle they were sitting at-and the lack of depth perception-made them look like a large orange and yellow blobby...blob. He noted with some interest that it seemed about two to three shades cooler than Kailah-though it would probably still be considered warm blooded, especially compared to Zim’s obvious cool body temp.

“They’re offering to go up and circle around,” Kailah said while making an over head hand motion. “look for a town...or anything edible. But I don’t remember seeing anything before the crash, and we were much higher up than what Chomp can fly. So I don’t think there is anything nearby, but they still want to have a look to be safe.”

Dib hummed thoughtfully. He had been in too deep of a sulk to have looked out the window before the whole spider thing, but he agreed, there probably weren’t any towns nearby. He looked at his backpack’s strewn contacts around him.

“Do you like garlic?” He asked lamely. He picked up the bag and gave the contents a closer look. “Actually...these may be past their expiration date.”  _ By three and a half months... _ He made a face then sighed and lowered the bag.  _ Does garlic still repel vampires if it’s rotten? Or does it have to be fresh? _ He looked at Kailah nervously as she started laughing.

“Let me see those.” She leaned forward and took the bag, a teasing look in her eyes that made Dib feel weird in an almost good way. It was a very different teasing look from what he usually received from the other kids at skool; a lot less melicious.

Kailah held the bag up to eye level and squinted at the slightly mushy garlic. She pulled the bag closer and gave it a tentative sniff, almost gagged, then started laughing as she tossed it back on the ground near the rest of Dib’s stuff. The orange and yellow blob next to her almost looked like it was covering its nose.

“W-what?” Dib felt his chest tighten, why was she laughing now?

“Chomp says that’s probably why Zim calls you Dib-stink!” She said through her giggles with a large toothy grin. When Dib just gave her a confused look, she snorted then winced and gripped her head with her spider bitten hand before taking a small sip of water. “Ow, laughing hurts.” She mumbled.

“Wait,” Dib asked, “are you suggesting that Zim could smell half rotten garlic inside a sealed bag inside my backpack??” He wasn’t sure if he should be horrified or fascinated.

Kailah shrugged. “He’s an alien. Who knows how good his sense of smell is.” She looked at the water, down to the last quarter. She held it out for Dib, “Here, you have the rest.”

Dib looked at the bottle, unsure. He glanced at Kailah, her face was back to a healthy enough color, so she seemed to be doing better. She also seemed genuinely sincere in letting him finish it off, rather than just trying to be polite by offering. Still, he found himself hesitating and pushing his glasses up his nose.

“What’s wrong?” She wiggled the bottle at him-making the water swish around-her arm still outstretched. “Afraid of cooties?” She said playfully. “Or are you  _ really  _ possessed by a demon and afraid to touch holy water?  _ Or  _ maybe you’re a vampire!? And that’s why you’re always wearing that oversized black coat? Oh! Or perhaps-”

“Shut up.” Dib muttered, his ears burning as he snatched the water from her and downed the remainder in one big gulp, as if to prove he wasn’t afraid of it. “I’m not a vampire. As if.” He scoffed, tossing the bottle onto his pile of things.

Kailah grinned and elbowed the orange and yellow blob next to her. “Told you he wasn’t a vampire.” She laughed at something Chomp said and Dib’s ears burned hotter. Why did she keep laughing at him! Was she mocking him? He crossed his arms and glared off into the trees, his cheeks were starting to feel uncomfortably warm now, too.

After a few moments of silence Kailah let out a soft sigh.

“Dib,” Her voice was low, apologetic. He didn’t look at her. “Dib, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean-” She stopped herself then let out an even softer sigh and a whisper that he couldn’t quite make out.

Dib looked at her side long, she had picked the leaf back up and was slowly tearing it up again, though her head was turned ever so slightly towards the right. Towards Chomp. Her shoulders slumped and she let the leaf fall. Her hands rose up slowly and she pressed her face into them. Dib turned his whole attention to her. Chomp’s heat signature was leaning close to her, seemingly for comfort...or-

“I’m sorry...” She whispered through her hands. “I know you just want to find out the truth. I do too. And I know this whole situation is...frustrating. I understand that this is not ideal. I didn’t mean for this to happen. I-my-you…” She let out a low groan and dragged her hands away from her face, looking up at the trees and sky above. Chomp shifted away slightly, to give her space. “My head is killing me, I haven’t been able to think straight since you ran off yesterday.” She looked at Chomp. “I know you know. I know you’re sorry, I’m not blaming you. I’m just-” She sighed and listened. Chomp’s head tilting in what Dib could only assume was sympathy?

Dib sat there, watching the two awkwardly, slowly forgetting that he had just been upset with her.

“Exactly,” She said softly and gave a sad smile. “Yeah, you can go look. I know just sitting here doing nothing is killing you. Just...please, don’t go more than a half mile, okay? With everything that’s happened, I don’t know if I’m strong enough to be further apart than that.” She closed her eyes and leaned over, her forehead pressed against Chomp’s. “You stay safe, too.” She leaned back again and tucked some hair behind her ear as the heat signature beside her shrank into the shape of a bird then took flight. 

Kailah and Dib watched as Chomp flew off.

Dib waited a moment longer before switching his glasses back to Normal mode and cutting in with: “So, how long- _ exactly _ -were you going to wait to tell me that the Loughran looked like a dinosaur?”

Kailah gave him a confused look, like she was trying to make sense of his words and what they had to do with the conversation from before. 

“Oh! So they were right, you  _ can  _ see them now!”

Dib couldn’t help the grin that slipped onto his face as he proudly said. “Yeah, I can! Stayed up all night with my dad working on these!” He adjusted his glasses. “They have four different settings I can switch between; I call the first one HD, it’s modeled after the Mantis Shrimp you told me about. My dad and I did loads of research of them last night while making these! The second is Thermal Imaging, the third is Night Vision, and of course the last is simply Normal. Chomp shows up with the first two.”

“That’s so cool!” She looked genuinely impressed as she leaned forward to examine the glasses still on his face (Dib felt himself freeze up as she did). She also looked like she was half tempted to ask to try them on herself. “Now I feel even worse that they’re busted.” She said apologetically, sitting back again.

Dib just shrugged, feeling himself relax again as she leaned away. “Only the left lense doesn’t work.” He explained. “And the frames being bent is pretty annoying...but I can fix all that myself when we get home...now that I know how to make them I could probably do the repairs myself.”

Kailah hummed enthusiastically in response.

Dib cleared his throat, “So...Chomp is a dinosaur?”

“Oh, yeah, so…” She tried to find the right words as she rubbed the side of her nose, embarrassed. “Uh, Loughran can shapeshift? Did I tell you that already? I...I can’t remember.” She massaged her forehead for a moment with her good hand. “Well, anyway. I guess they take the form that their Bondmate would find...most preferable? So that way they’re not attacked when a Bond is first made? But, uh, that was years ago. So, Chomp used to be a uh, tiger for a bit? A few other things too. A Large dog, house cat, snake, crow. But then I saw a movie...and got really into dinosaurs? And it turns out that they liked that shape too, a lot of different uses? And it’s comfortable or something? I don’t know, but they’ve had this shape for a long while now, we’re both so used to it being their main form that I guess I didn’t think to mention it? You know, with all the other questions you were asking? And,  _ you  _ never asked what they looked like...soooo~…”

Dib frowned a little at her rambling, Chomp hadn’t been gone for that long, surely they couldn’t have gotten so far away as to cause this much of a downward swing in her mental health so fast, right? And it couldn’t have been the concussion, cause she seemed perfectly fine just a moment ago when he was explaining his glasses.

“Hey,” Dib said carefully, “maybe you should tell Chomp to come back.” He leaned forward a bit and adjusted his glasses, her face didn’t seem any paler...did it? Though, her eyes did seem unfocused...

Kailah nodded sleepily. “Yeah...I feel it now, they’re already coming back.” She paused and her eyes seemed to come back into focus. “Man, I hate this!” She pounded a fist on her leg and Dib sat back again. “We’ve never had trouble with distances before. We’ve never been this out of  _ sync _ . I just want to go back to Tuesday!”

Dib’s eyebrows twitched together in confusion. Why Tuesday? Why not last week, or last month? Last month would mean she’d still be at her old skool. Last week would mean...wait, Tuesday was the day Dib confronted her about Bigfoot. She couldn’t...surely that’s not what she meant, right? No, of course not. She probably just said Tuesday cause Zim showed up yesterday and that’s when everything really started to turn upside down for her. Yes, that must be why.

“WHERE IS THE LOUGHRIN!” Zim shouted from the ship, jumping down to the ground and quickly running towards them on his PAK legs.

The two pre-teens jumped at the sudden and violent reminder that they weren’t alone in the woods. Zim-still on his metal legs-lowered himself just above Kailah, leaning threateningly close as he gave her a hard glare.

Kailah winced and tried to backpedal in a crab walk, her face showing a bit of fear and a lot of confusion.

“Answer Zi-!” Something invisible slammed into Zim from the left and knocked him off balance, sending him skittering sideways on the thin metal legs as he tried to right himself before hitting the ground. Zim let out an angry hiss and Dib quickly closed his left eye as he switched on HD mode.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Gasp*! Cliffhanger! Fight next chapter!
> 
> :3 Told you there was foreshadowing last chapter, did you notice how GIR put spiders in the Voot? And don't worry, Dib's not terrified of spiders, he just really doesn't like them and was simply caught off guard (at least, that's what he'd say if you ask him lol)
> 
> "Flirk" is from Hecallsmehischild's fics, go check out all of their work!


	12. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 8D 11.8k words! oops lol
> 
> Sorry for the slight delay, this ended up being a lot longer than I mean it to be. The chapter was technically done last week, but while editing I ended up adding a bunch of stuff ^_^;   
> Which means this is my longest chapter (yet), I probably could have cut it in half, but I just really wanted to get these guys moving again and out of the woods so...it's all one big long mess...
> 
> HINT: You'll need to use a mirror in part two! ;)

**Chapter 11**

Zim muttered and cursed-in his native tongue-under his breath as he worked on the badly damaged Engine Number Two on the back of the Voot. “Stupid flirking  _ hyumans _ ! Making the Might  _ Zim _ (!) crash!!  **Zim** !!! A trained elite Irken  _ Invader _ ! Grounded because some  _ fffflirking  _ native smeet alien was afraid of a tiny...thing! Rrrraaaaagggh!” He withdrew his PAK tool from the engine as he ranted and leaned in to examine the repairs so far with his claws. It still looked like a long way to go before it’ll be functional again...but Zim was confident he could get it up and running within the initial estimate of four Urth hours. Because, after all, he is  _ Zim _ !

Zim stood up, dusted off his pants, then stretched for a moment. Hunching over the engine for the last hour straight was making him feel a little stiff-especially since his PAK was still working on healing his injuries from the crash. He placed his claws on his hips and turned to glare at the two hyumans-they just sat there, being  _ lazy _ . 

_ Because of course they were too  _ stupid  _ to offer any sort of assistance to the Might Zim(!)...not that they would have been any  _ use _...but still, rude! After everything Zim has done for them! Like agreeing to honor their stooooopid and  _ barbaric  _ Urth tradition of ‘pinky promises’! Zim could just as easily have let that annoying host-girl die! Sure, searching for the Loughran afterwards would have been a huge pain, but I’m Zim(!), I would have found that parasite without these stupid hyumans’s help!  _

“AND!” Zim muttered angrily under his breath, still in Irken, as he started pacing around. “Zim could have just as easily left you two useless Urth Smeets in the woods when we first found the Loughran! Zim could have captured that parasite right then and there, and left you two hyumans to die alone! But Zim is _ merciful!”  _ He paused thoughtfully, then kicked a fallen leaf off the Voot. _ “ _ And...yes...Almighty Tallest Red _ had _ ordered me to only observe, not to interfere with the Loughran, and; yes-capturing it would probably have been seen as interfering…” He muttered begrudgingly as he watched the deep green leaf lazily float down to the forest floor. “Still.” He started pacing again.

Zim had ultimatly made the decision to make a  _ second  _ stupid ‘pinky promise’; in exchange for taking the two hyumans and Loughran the rest of the way to this...stupid  _ ‘pod’ _ ...thing; the host-girl would translate what the parasite was saying. He hoped that would give him some more info on how-or why-the other alien was here on Urth. After all, Almighty Tallest Red  _ had  _ asked for more information, so-while yes, this could be seen as interfering...Zim was confident that none of these stupid aliens were smart enough to see through his clever spying methods! So, he would soon end up with all the intel he’d need to pass on to the Tallests! 

Though, Zim was pretty certain that the host-girl hasn’t kept  _ her  _ side of the deal at all! She’d only translated one thing so far, _ and that was an insult! _

_ “And  _ she has the  _ audacity  _ to threaten taking  _ Zim’s  _ littlest finger!? It was the  _ Dib-stink’s  _ fault the Voot crashed! Not  **Zim’s** !!” He growled and turned to kick at the engine in frustration.

_ Besides! They were all _ ‘safe’!  _ No one had died or broken in the crash. And Zim still has _ plenty  _ of time to get us back to the city before nightfall! Their planet’s star isn’t even at its half way point in the sky! Therefore, I am still holding up  _ my  _ side of the _ Deal, _ thank you very much! Stupid flirking hyuman host-girl! _

He let out a hiss that morphed into a growl as he continued to walk in small angry circles atop the Voot, waving his arms around in frustration as he muttered to himself in Irken, kicking at any leaves or little crawly bug-things that dared land atop  _ his  _ Voot! He gestured vigorously again towards the two pre-teens sitting there, just  _ talking _ , being useless and-

Wait.

Where-...WHERE WAS THE LOUGHRAN?! The whole reason Zim was even  _ doing  _ any of this was GONE!

“WHERE IS THE LOUGHRAN!” Zim screeched in Urth-tongue as he jumped from the ship. His PAK legs emerged and caught him before he hit the ground below; they quickly carried him faster than he could have ran towards the hyumans; fresh panic joining the anger already bubbling up from his spooch.  _ What if it snuck off and is gone for good this time?! What punishment will the Tallest demand of Zim if I lose that parasite! _

The host-girl tried to backpedal away, crawling on her hands and feet as she looked up at the rapidly approaching Zim with wide eyes. Zim found momentary pleasure in the look of fear on her face as he practically stood over her and menacingly followed her every cowering crawling step with his PAK legs and a fierce snarl. He slowly lowered himself closer to her, going from towering threateningly over her to leaning dangerously close as he demanded an answer.

“Answer Zi-!” Something heavy slammed into Zim from the left and held on tightly. He was sent skittering sideways as he was knocked off balance by the unexpected force. His metal PAK legs scrambled to right him before he completely hit the ground. 

Zim let out an angry hiss as he swiped with both gloved claws at the Loughran clinging to him; his PAK legs carried them both in tight, dizzying circles in an attempt to dislodge it as he continued to claw at it. The parasite’s jaws snapped twice in a quick rapid succession uncomfortably close to his face in retaliation-just missing by the width of an antenna. Its claws dug into his back and shoulders-drawing out pink blood-as it hung on to him, one of its back legs kicking uselessly at the air below his torso. 

Zim didn’t feel any pain from his back though, as the thrill of the fight, anger, and painkillers from his PAK flooded his system.

He decided to return the favor when his own claws finally managed to sink into feathery flesh-black goop emerged to soak and cling to his gloves. The Loughran opened its long toothy maw wide-as if screaming-but didn’t make any sound that Zim could hear-not even the hiss of exhaled air. Though he could hear the host-girl screaming in the background, as if she felt its pain? 

It suddenly kicked out again, deadly looking claws on its grotesquely avian-like feet just barely made contact with Zim’s tunic; there was a chilling sound of ripping fabric. Forced to focus back on the fight, Zim saw the parasite prepare for another kick at his now exposed green torso. Without warning Zim threw his PAK legs above him and dropped to the ground, slamming his full weight onto the Loughran before its dagger-like claws could make contact. 

He then quickly alligator-rolled to the right.

Zim finally managed to successfully dislodge the beast after several rolls along the forest floor. After three more rolls to get some additional distance, he somersaulted smoothly to his feet then quickly backed up several more paces, just to be safe. His PAK legs formed a protective cage around him as he lowered himself into a defensive position to face off against the monster-esk parasite.

Zim was vaguely aware of the host-girl’s continued screaming somewhere in the background, yelling words of some sort, but he kept all his attention on the real threat. He wouldn’t be distracted again. 

Zim eyed the beast closely as it struggled to a standing position. He flexed his claws and narrowed his eyes, daring it to try and attack him again. Zim knew the Tallest wouldn’t be happy if he killed the parasite, but surely they would understand and forgive him if he explained it was for self-defense.

The Loughran spread its brown and black wings wide, tail stiff and up with feathers all splayed in-what Zim was sure  _ it  _ thought was a threatening display-but just made Zim let out a good, loud laugh at how fluffy it appeared. 

At the same moment that it sprang forward into a full speed run, Zim launched himself straight up into the air by slamming his PAK legs into the ground-similar to a locus.

As he reached the zenith of his jump, Zim spread his PAK legs out to all sides to control the direction of his fall. 

He aimed to land on the parasite’s back. 

“I said STOP!” The host-girl yelled. The Loughran seemed to finally hesitate midstep under him, glancing towards its host. 

_ An opening! _

Zim landed on the Loughran’s back and quickly dug his claws into its feathery flesh to hold on. It spun and twisted in a panicked, tight figure 8 as it tried to snap at him repeatedly from both sides. 

Zim just barely managed to dodge the bites and keep his hold on its back as he raised up a PAK leg above his head. The tip sharp and glistening in the early afternoon sun. 

Zim took aim.

“ **_STOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH_ ** !!!!!!!” What started as a single word very quickly turned into a primal-high pitched-scream of pure anger and fear.

It was the worst sound Zim had ever heard. It pierced right through his wig and threatened to deafen him. It was agonizing, painful, excruciating, all consuming, and downright flirking  _ horrible _ !!! Zim lost his grip and his balance on the Loughran, and was unceremoniously thrown onto the forest floor-landing painfully on his freshly injured left shoulder. 

His whole body was suddenly unresponsive! He tried to order his PAK legs to carry him away from the sound, but all they did was twitch and spasm. He tried to order his organic legs to move, but all they did was curl into his chest. He tried to order his arms to drag him away, but all they did was cover his head in a useless attempt to block out the seemingly never-ending and torturous sound. He tried to order his voice to scream, to demand the noise to stop-to beg it to stop-but no sound came out of his throat as his teeth gritted tighter together and his eyes squeezed shut. 

Zim couldn’t even think any more. All there was was that horrible, awful, terrible,  _ agonizing  _ sound. It consumed him. It wouldn’t stop. It felt like it would last forever. There was no end in sight. Zim was going to die of old age before this noise released him!

And then it was quiet. The scream tapered off in both volume and pitch until it was silent.

Sweet, peaceful, amazing, wonderful,  _ glorious  _ silence!

His PAK informed him that only 15.82 Urth seconds had passed since the sound had started. Had it really only been that long? How was that possible?

“Kailah!” Dib lowered his hands from his still ringing ears, looking at her in astonishment. “What was  _ that _ ?!” She’d sounded just like a banshee! It had been loud, high pitched, and  _ downright horrible _ ! Dib was grateful he had been standing  _ behind  _ her! How was she even able to hold a scream like that for that long?!

Kailah must have fallen to her knees at some point during the screaming, though she couldn’t quite remember exactly when. She remembered standing up when the fight started-panic, anxiety, and fear making her chest feel tight as she yelled and begged for both Zim and Chomp to stop. 

But neither of them seemed to hear her. 

She remembered feeling Chomp’s pain and yelping in response as Zim’s claws dug into their neck. She remembered seeing Zim leaping into the air and preparing to stab her Bondmate. 

When she realized that neither of them were listening to her begging them to stop, instinct and frustration finally took over. Afraid to actually get physically in between the two fighting aliens (on the off chance of getting caught in the crossfire and injured worse than she already was), she did the only remaining thing she could think of; she screamed. 

As loud and as long and as hard as she could. 

It was the only other thing she could think to do short of throwing herself bodily between the two.

She wasn’t exactly sure when she’d fallen to her knees, but she was certain that she had screamed for a good bit before and after landing. Now that the fighting was done and her lungs spent, she gripped her head and groaned in pain. 

She’ll admit she’s screamed in frustration before, but never like that. Never that long or that loud. 

Her vision had turned black and hazy about half way through, she couldn’t see anything right now. Her ears were ringing with the phantom echo of her own screaming. Her throat felt tight and raw and painfully dry in the aftermath. 

Her headache was no longer a dull constant throb. It was now a roaring, all consuming, thorny, vice-like grip of agony stabbing in at her from all directions.

She could feel Chomp slowly approaching, they sat down in front of her and she found her mind automatically searching their’s to make sure they were okay. Worry and concern radiated from Chomp as they felt her pain through the Bond. They were panting slightly as they tried to catch their breath post-fight. Their neck still hurt-but that pain was receding quickly as they shifted their form to close the wounds. Their ears rung, but no more than her own. She let out a small sigh in relief; they were okay.

She wished she could say the same for herself. Kailah could feel them search her mind in return, as they tried to determine just how much she’d managed to aggravated her own injuries with that little stunt.

Dib watched them quietly, awkwardly aware that they were having a silent moment.

_ You really should not have done that with a concussion _ . Chomp scolded softly, worry and sympathy washing over her like a gentle hug.

If her headache was killing her before, it was flat out  _ murdering  _ her right now.  _ But what else could I have done?  _ She thought back helplessly, trying-and failing-to ignore the pain. _ You and Zim were fighting. I could feel his claws digging into you...and neither of you were listening to me or Dib when we yelled repeatedly for you to stop.  _

_ I’m sorry.  _ And they meant it. Kailah could feel their regret and shame through the Bond as-once again-they had let their emotions get the better of them, resulting in yet another fight with Zim in order to protect her, without actually thinking of the consequences. But why did they keep doing that? They’d never once come within even a mile of attacking anyone before...but, something about Zim just kept screaming: ‘Threat’. They didn’t know anything about the other alien, but their instincts kept insisting that Zim was not to be trusted nor even allowed within touching distance of Kailah. So, they kept reacting without a second thought whenever the green alien so much as lifted a claw towards their Forever Bondmate.

Kailah was too exhausted and in too much pain to worry about all this right now; she just wanted to go home and sleep.

A hand, soft yet firm, rested on her shoulder from behind.

Kailah blinked away tears of pain as she tried to clear her vision, but everything still looked dim and out of focus around her. She was afraid to use her hands to wipe them dry as her head was swimming and spinning so fast she might accidentally poke an eye out. The whole world actually seemed to be spinning around her and it was making her feel very nauseated and off balance. And turning to look up at the four Dibs only made it worse as the six bright suns were right behind him, and the whole world seemed to be spiraling erratically as it felt like she was falling even as she knew she was sitting still.

“Kailah?” He asked, his voice sounding like it was coming from the other side of a large chasm-faint and echoey (so strange that Chomp sounded crisp and clear as usual, while Dib seemed to be speaking to her from another planet). “Hey, are you okay?”

“N-...” She coughed once, her voice raspy, everything still spinning dizzyingly. “No, everything...is…” She started coughing again, but it quickly turned to gagging, then she turned away and vomited.

“Oh...oh  _ gross _ .” Dib muttered, silently thankful that she had managed to face away from him before...that.

Zim-having finally managed to recover enough to actually make it to his feet-swayed slightly, feeling off balance as his antennae seemed to be literally vibrating in the aftermath of that horribleness. He lifted his wig up slightly and ran a claw over his head to smooth them. That seemed to help a little; his feet felt a little more steady beneath him at the very least. 

Zim also noticed, with some relief, that his hearing didn’t seem to be damaged in any way.  _ Good _ . That meant he could kill that host-girl right here and now and still be able to hear her beg him for her life as he ripped out her  _ disgusting  _ hyuman meat organs. Starting with that horrible noise box of hers so she couldn’t make that horrible noise ever again. 

He straightened his wig then dusted off his tunic-scowling at the blood stained rips by his shoulder and lower back and growling at the large jagged hole in the front. Killing the host-girl would certainly be considered interfering with the Loughran, but at this point, Zim didn’t care anymore. He just wanted to get this whole horrible ordeal over with: kill the hyuman, capture the Loughran, send it to the Tallest, then he could go back to his original mission of Invading this miserable planet. 

Zim looked around and noticed the host-girl sitting on the ground several yards away with the Dib-stink standing over her and the Loughran hovering nearby. Zim noticed with a flash of irritation and indignation that the parasite was watching  _ her  _ instead of  _ Zim _ . As if it didn’t think Zim was a threat anymore!

Zim marched over, murder in his eyes.

“Alright, look, I uh...don’t know much about concussions...but we should probably get you somewhere to lay down or something, right?” The Dib-stink was trying to help the host-girl stand. The Loughran stood to the side, watching the two carefully.

Zim stopped in front of them, fuming. The Loughran seemed to notice him first, it turned its head towards him, then bared its teeth. Zim returned the gesture, spitting out an Irken slur as he bared his own teeth at the parasite.

“Stop.” The host-girl mumbled in a croaky voice, vaguely waving her free hand (the one that was all red and swollen from the spider bites) as she gripped the Dib-stink’s arm with the other. “Please, no more fighting.” She looked and sounded utterly exhausted.

“Zim was defending myself! I only wanted to know where that parasite of yours-” Zim jumped back a step as the Loughran snapped at him. He hissed at it and shouted a few more choice Irken curses in its direction.

The host-girl let out a pitiful moan and leaned more into the Dib-stink (the boy’s face and ears turned an odd red color before worry and concern seemed to take over and crease his brow). “Chomp, please…”

The Loughran glanced at her, a worried and brief apologetic look in its eyes, then returned its hard amber-eyed glare back to Zim. 

“Zim,” The host-girl seemed to have returned to the same pale and labored breathing state she had been in from this morning, “They want to know, why you’re so...interested in them. Why do you, keep asking, where they are. Why you’re willing, to make Deals to fly us around...just to keep track of them.” 

The Loughran was giving Zim a hard, suspicious look, and even the Dib-stink seemed to be watching him carefully. Had Zim really not been as subtle a spy as he’d thought? No! Of course not, Zim was amazing and brilliant! These three were just somehow able to see past not only his  _ brilliant  _ hyuman disguise, but also his methods of information retrieval? 

They were craftier than any other life on this planet it seemed. Zim would just have to be much more craftier going forward.

“Zim has his reasons.” He said in a lofty tone as he stood straight and folded his arms across his chest neatly.

After a long pause, she asked; “Care to share them with the class?”

“Eh?” Zim’s stance relaxed slightly as he gave her a confused look. “The class-smellies are not here, it's just you stupids. Zim will share no such knowledge with the class!”

“...Okay,” The Dib-stink said, slowly. “Care to tell  _ us  _ why you’re so interested in the Loughran?”

“No.” Zim said simply, turning his chin up at them and folding his arms a little tighter across his chest.

The Loughran puffed up its feathers and bared its teeth again. The host-girl sighed softly and her head twitched to the side. The Dib-stink seemed to take that as some sort of cue, as he started walking away with her. Zim watched with one eye narrowed suspiciously as the Dib-stink led the host-girl to a shady spot under a tree. The Dib-stink helped her sit and lean against its trunk. The Loughran remained where it was, watching Zim. He stuck his tongue out at it.

“Zim.” The host-girl called weakly from the tree.

“Eh?!” He couldn’t quite make out what she was saying; a combination of the blasted wig, the distance, and how softly she was speaking. And unfortunately, with the parasite standing between them, Zim couldn’t exactly walk closer to hear her better (well, he  _ could _ , but with the adrenaline from the fight rapidly fading, and the fuzziness of painkillers increasing, he was quickly losing the mood to risk another scuffle with the beast. And at this point he wasn’t exactly sure if he could keep himself from outright killing it, and he knew the Tallest would not be pleased if he did). 

He thought for a moment, weighing his options; he knew killing the Loughran was out of the question-at least until he got the okay from his Tallest (and now that he had a clear head post-fight, he knew the excuse of self-defense probably wouldn’t work), and walking closer to the host-girl to hear what she was saying would undoubtedly start something with that weirdly overprotective parasite. 

So, the solution was to remove his wig-so he could hear properly. But that would mean he would expose his true self...though it wasn’t like these three aliens hadn’t  _ just  _ seen him without it less than an hour ago, so, what was the point of keeping it on? 

On one claw, there was the risk of other hyumans suddenly showing up, but Zim could be certain by now that some random hikers or what-have-yous weren’t about to stumble upon the crash sight, since there’s been no hint so far that anyone saw the Voot go down. And on the other claw, Zim was absolutely growing tired of having his antennae pressed uncomfortably against his head-they demanded to be free and express themselves! 

So, Zim reached up and removed his wig. He casually stowed it away in his PAK, then made it about half way to his eyes before he hesitated.  _ Actually, no.  _ He probably shouldn’t take the whole disguise off just yet (yeah, the contacts were annoyingly itchy, but they didn’t impede his vision the same way the wig did his hearing. And if they were suddenly discovered out here, the wig would be quick and easy to put back on, while the contacts took a bit more time, so best to leave them on for now). Zim lowered his claws in a smooth arch to hide the hesitation and placed them on his hips. He stood as tall as he could-antennae bobbing at their new found freedom-and radiated confidence with an air of superiority in his stance as he stared the two hyumans down.

The host-girl saw this-and seemed to actually understand the meaning behind it-as she repeated her sentence without any further prompting. “The Deal was to get us to the pod-then back home- _ safely _ before dark. I didn’t ask for your pinkie after the crash because it was a freak accident. One that no one could have predicted or prevented.”

“LIES!” Zim shouted and glared at her as he took a step forward. “It was all you and the Dib-stink’s fault!”  _ Who does she think she is! Speaking to Zim like this!  _ His antennae were pressed back with anger and annoyance. “Zim had nothing to do with the crash!”

“...Anyway,” She continued in a tired voice (Zim glared at her harder, ignoring the watchful look the Loughran seemed to have glued to him), “I won't hesitate to take your pinkie if you fail to get us home before dark-or if  _ any  _ of us get  _ any  _ more injured. So, please,” She sounded so tired, “go back to fixing the ship so we can get moving again.”

“You  **dare** !” Zim stomped towards her, antennae up and forward in a threat display, mouth twisting into a snarl. “You  _ dare  _ threaten  _ Zim _ ! Zim should take  **_your_ ** pinky finger! You have barely translated  _ anything  _ that that pa-” He stopped himself “Loughran has said!!” Said parasite followed his every step towards the host-girl, but Zim didn’t even glance at it as he glared daggers at the native.

“Because there hasn’t been anything to really  _ relay _ ??” She said exasperated as she squinted up at him, her face pale and full of contempt. The Dib-stink taking a half step forward, a nervous look in his eyes. “While you were working on the ship, Dib and I were just talking and hanging out. Chomp didn’t say anything of relevance to you. You didn’t ask me directly if they had anything to say. So there was nothing for me to even really translate!”

“Then why did you say nothing when it left the site!” Zim challenged, ignoring the fact that the Loughran was trying to push itself between him and its host. He tried to keep eye contact with her and pretend the other alien wasn’t even there. The Dib-stink took another half step forward and flanked the host-girl from the other side, watching Zim carefully. Always  _ carefully _ . It was like the Dib-stink couldn’t simply watch; he always had to  _ observe _ . Zim narrowed his eyes at him for a second, lip twitching up a little more to reveal his teeth before he turned his attention back down to the sitting host-girl.

The host-girl closed her eyes, seemingly too exhausted to keep them open,  _ peh pathetic weakling _ ! “Because, Zim.” She said in a clipped voice. “The Deal was only to translate, not to give you updates on their whereabouts. Besides, they weren’t even going to go that far. They were just going to…” Her hand twitched vaguely towards the trees, “scout the area. I’m hungry and still a little thirsty. My head is killing me.” As if to emphasise the point, she reached up with both hands and started rubbing her temples. “And they were just trying to find something that could help. But they couldn’t even make it a quarter mile, before I started fading again...probably thanks to this stupid concussion I have.” She muttered and rubbed at her face for a moment, making a miserable sound as she did. 

“They were already almost back when you ran over screaming.” She continued after lowering her hands and squinting up at him, “They were only gone for like, five minutes tops. When they got back, they saw you charging at me on those weird spider-legs of yours and they felt my fear; so of course they attacked to defend. Cause  _ we  _ don’t know  _ you _ .” She waved an arm half heartedly to her side and the Loughran actually took a half step back so she could meet Zim’s gaze fully as she sat up slightly. “You just showed up at skool yesterday. You seemed  _ just  _ as surprised to see them, as we were to discover a random alien trying to pretend to be a new kid. So, I gotta guess that whatever reason you have for being at our skool, has nothing to do with Chomp.  _ Except _ , all day today, you’ve been super weird! Constantly demanding their whereabouts, and even inner thoughts?” Her gaze flicked to the Loughran for a moment before returning to Zim (and Zim noticed the Dib-smell raising a curious eyebrow as well). “We don’t know why you’re suddenly interested in them, and we don’t like that. We don’t know what your goals or intentions are here. I’m  _ trying  _ to be friendly-especially since you seem to know more about them than we do.”-

_ Hold up, what was that? _

-”But you’re not exactly making it easy. I know you agreed to help reunite us today by piloting your ship and all, but it’s pretty obvious you only did it for your own mysterious reasons. Your whole obsession with us is super sketchy, weird, and suspicious. That’s why Chomp doesn’t trust you.” The Loughran gave a sharp nod. “And, honestly, I was trying to give you the benefit of the doubt, because maybe it’s just a cultural thing or whatever, but with how demanding and aggressive you’re being with wanting to know-not only their thoughts-but also their  _ whereabouts _ ? I’m starting to agree that you are hiding something big, and I don’t like it.”

Zim’s antennae had lowered in annoyance and his eyes narrowed as the host-girl spoke. It would make sense that the parasite would want to attempt to help keep its host alive by searching for sustenance. But Zim still couldn’t risk it slinking away to find a new host as long as his mission was to keep an eye on it. He couldn’t risk failing his Tallest by losing track of it-killing it he could always try to talk his way out of, but losing it would mean failing his Tallest!

And yes, using a bit of the logic of trying to keep its host alive, it makes sense that it would attack Zim to defend its host. But then-...Zim narrowed his eyes suspiciously and thoughtfully.  _ Why was it even still  _ attached  _ to this hyuman? After the distance it traveled, and the threat of Zim; how and why was this Loughran even still sticking around?! Why wouldn’t it have already detached and slunk off in search of a new host? And what did she mean by ‘you seem to know more about them than we do’?!  _

_ What on Irk did that even mean?! Did the Loughran not know anything about its own kind?? No, that can’t be possible...according to the report they were a Hivemind! But then, it's been on Urth for six years, right?  _ Zim tried to remember the parasite’s reaction when he’d off-handedly mentioned that the Loughran had all been wiped out, he could only remember it being mad about him calling it a parasite. _ And now it suddenly seemed interested in going to its Pod? Maybe it hadn’t known it was the last of its race? But how could that be?  _

Zim looked between the parasite and its host more closely, one antenna perked with interest.  _ How long ago had the war ended?  _ His PAK hummed briefly. Eh?  _ Just over six years? And this particular parasite has been on Urth for about six years...that’s what the host-girl had said on the spy cameras last night. Wait, has...has it been attached to this same host-girl the whole time it’s been on this planet?  _ Zim thought back to the one-sided conversation he’d spied on.  _ It certainly sounded that way.  _

_ So, it's possible that the Loughran was traveling between its homeworld and Urth when Irk won the war? That could explain why it didn’t realize it was the last...but it doesn’t really explain how it wouldn’t know anything else-...wait, shouldn’t it know what an  _ Irken  _ is? We’ve known of  _ Loughran’s  _ existence for almost  _ twenty  _ years, so it should definitely recognize me as an Irken. Unless… _

_ Unless it was sent away as a hatchling, with no time to absorb any knowledge from the Hivemind?? But...why? _

_ And it's been attached to this same host this whole time? According to the report the Loughran were notorious for switching hosts to gain their knowledge. Why would it have stuck with the same hyuman host this whole time?  _

_ What if it  _ couldn’t  _ detach from her? It certainly seemed that way...seeing the distance that the two were just seperated by, yet the connection remained. Is their something special about this hyuman smeet? _ Zim hummed thoughtfully and leaned closer to examine her.

The host-girl gave him a nervous and uncertain look while the Dib-stink inched closer.

The Loughran took a sudden defensive step forward, getting in between Zim and the two hyumans, teeth bared and amber eyes hard as stone. Zim returned the glare, his antennae lowering again to an annoyed state.  _ This Loughran does not seem to behave like the report suggested they would. The Vortian report _ clearly  _ suggested they were peaceful and curious creatures. Easily switching from host to host with no issues or regrets; like switching conversation partners in a crowded room. But this Loughran...this one seems extra attached to its host. Protective to a fault. Aggressive and violent. Why? What was so special about this hyuman smeet? _

“They are asking,” The host-girl said softly, drawing Zim’s attention to her. “-in a very impolite way-for you to please stop silently glaring at us. Please go back to working on the ship. That way I can rest, and hopefully not make this headache any worse than it already is. And we can all leave this forest soon.” 

Zim returned his glare to the Loughran, it slowly stood up to its full height, raising its head almost two full feet above Zim and looking down at him along it’s long thin muzzle with narrowed eyes and bared teeth. 

Zim hated it the most in that moment. How  _ dare  _ it be taller than  _ him _ .

“...Can I help?”

Zim snapped his glare to the Dib-stink, momentarily forgetting he was still there. Zim squared up against him, antennae pressed against his skull.

“With the ship.” The Dib-stink said with a half nervous chuckle. “Can I help you fix it?”

“ _ You _ ?!” Zim sneered then burst out laughing. “You think a  _ stupid  _ hyuman Urth-smelly like yourself will even know the  _ first  _ thing about fixing an Irken Voot Runner?!” He threw his head back as he laughed harder.

“N-no,” The Dib-stink admitted, his voice nervous but his face determined as his fist clenched at his sides. “but I’m really good with technology! And I’m a fast learner! Plus, with the both of us working on it, then maybe we can get it up and running faster?”

“Hmm.” Zim narrowed his eyes at him. “Very well.” He waved a dismissive hand and turned towards the Voot. “Zim will allow the Dib-stink to act as my slave and assist with fixing the Voot.”  _ The faster Zim can get back to the base, the sooner I can report all this new information to the Tallests. _

Dib was too excited by the prospect of being shown the inner workings of a Real Alien Spaceship engine to even care about that ‘slave’ comment. He glanced at Kailah for a moment; she seemed to slowly be regaining her color-though her breathing was still a bit worrying. He closed his left eye and switched on HD mode. Chomp seemed to be settling down as the distance between them and Zim grew. They laid down and placed their head in Kailah’s lap. Chomp met his eye and gave a small nod; Dib didn’t need Kailah to translate to know that meant he could go, and Chomp would let him know if Kailah got any worse. Dib gave a curt nod back, then switched his glasses to Normal before following Zim to the  _ Irken  _ ship. 

***

“Okay!” Dib said enthusiastically, some time later. “I think I got it.”

Zim gave him an unimpressed look and waved his hand with a small eye roll; annoyed but willing to let Dib continue.

Dib pointed to a large silver/gray cable, the only thing still connecting Engine Two to the Voot. “This is the Flux Cable. It controls the speed by fluctuating how much fuel is allowed in the engine at any given time.” He pointed to a bundle of very colorful exposed wires that were all severed, “These are the uh, Control Wires, they connect the engine to the console so it can be steered and monitored by the ship’s computer.” He moved his hand to point at three triangular shaped, dark gray, metal spikes that surrounded the gaping hole where the engine was supposed to be. “And these are the Connector Hooks; they’re what keep the engine attached to the ship.”

“Correct. Heh, Zim must be an  _ amazing  _ teacher for an Urth- _ worm  _ like you to have picked that up so quickly.” He said in a smug voice.

Dib rolled his eyes and simply ignored the comment, he pushed his glasses up his nose and sat back to examine the engine as a whole. Right now, the only thing keeping it attached was the Flux Cable. The Control Wires were all severed, and two of the Connector Hooks were bent at an almost 90 degree angle outward. Zim had explained that since the other three engines were still in working order, he was confident that they could fly the ship with only minor repairs to the damaged engine-at least for the short distance they would have to travel to get back home. But Dib wasn’t nearly as convinced nor confident about that as the alien was. But then, he didn’t really know enough about how this ‘Voot Runner’ worked to argue the point with Zim.

So really-according to Zim at least-it was just a matter of bending the Connector Hooks back into shape (without accidentally  _ snapping  _ them under the pressure that would be needed to bend them), then they just had to snap Engine Number Two back into its place. Then the ship would be ready for take off.

Dib  _ highly  _ doubted that it was  _ anywhere  _ near as easy as Zim was making it sound-or trying to. Plus, he wasn’t really sure he trusted the ship to fly with only three functional engines-even if Zim kept insisting that  _ he  _ was confident that as long as he could control the speed of Engine Two, he would be able to keep the ship stable as they flew (by using the other three engines for steering and compensation). When Dib tried to ask a few  _ very  _ reasonable follow up questions, such as: whether Zim’s ever had to fly with only three functioning engines before? Or what if Engine Two stopped working altogether mid flight? Would they crashland again or…? What if the engine just straight up overheated and exploded without warning? Seeing that the wires that literally tracked that information were all severed and useless, that was a pretty big possibility! 

Zim had just scuffed and waved a gloved hand and skipped right over all the  _ reasonable  _ concerns with an airy ‘We’ll be fine, I’m Zim. I know what I’m doing’. 

And yeah, it  _ was  _ Zim’s ship, so he probably knew what he was talking about...but still, Dib couldn’t ignore the hard lump of anxiety that was in his stomach.

“Now,” Zim said, pulling Dib from his thoughts. “Put these on, then hold here like this, hyuman- _ slave _ .” He tossed Dib a pair of black gloves-which seemed to appear out of nowhere-before demonstrating how he wanted Dib to hold the bottom edge of the Connector Hook.

Dib adjusted his glasses  _ again _ -as they were knocked askew due to the gloves thwaping him in the face. He then rolled his eyes and gave a small huff before he attempted to pull the gloves on. He was momentarily thrown off and confused when he realized that the gloves only had three fingers each, but then, so did Zim...so he guessed that was to be expected.

Seeing that the gloves lacked two fingers apiece, Dib had to shove his first and middle finger into one slot, and his ring and pinkie finger had to squish into the other-leaving his thumb lonely in the last slot. Once both gloves were on, he lifted his hands and gave them a once over-they looked like they were doing a bit of a Vulcan hand greeting thing. He wiggled his fingers for a moment-cramped but not unbearable, shouldn’t be too hard to work with them if all he had to do was hold the Hook still. He scooted closer to the Connector Hook and placed his now gloved hands where Zim had ‘asked’. 

“I’m not your slave, Zim.” Dib muttered, adjusting his grip slightly. “I’m just doing this so we can get home soon-”

“Silence! Or Zim will melt off your hand.” It wasn’t an ideal threat, and Dib knew that-not because he thought the alien would violently attack him for back talking-but because, as Zim had explained earlier; in order to bend the Connector Hook back into shape, Zim needed to really focus on what he was doing. If Zim lost focus, his grip could slip and Dib could lose a hand-or worse-Zim could accidently apply too much pressure and snap the Connector Hook completely in two. That’d leave them stranded in the woods; with no hope for rescue except picking a direction at random and walking. 

“Hold it still.” Zim warned as large appendages-with rubber looking crab claws-emerged from his PAK and gripped the Connector Hook on either side of Dib’s hands.

Dib tightened his grip on the Connector Hook in anticipation and watched with nervous fascination. The metal appendages started to glow slightly as they heated up the alien metal, slowly turning the purplish gray/blue Hook a deep purplish red. 

Dib was amazed at how well insulated these gloves were, considering they seemed to be the exact same kind that Zim was always wearing. As he watched the Hook slowly change color, he found himself wondering what other uses the gloves had, and what exactly Zim’s clawed hands looked like underneath his own pair. Were they a solid green like the rest of him? Or did they change color towards the tip? They looked pretty sharp-even through the gloves. Did Zim have nails like a person? Retractable claws like a cat? Or maybe they were one solid thing? Claw and finger fused together? Did Zim wear gloves as part of his disguise-to hide them from people? Or did he have to wear them all the time? Like, maybe his claws had venomous tips? Or were so sharp they would slice through anything they touched? Or maybe-

With a rueful sigh, Dib bit the inside of his cheek and forced himself to focus back on the Hook. He couldn’t let his mind wonder right now, and he couldn’t distract Zim by asking him these questions either-not that the alien would  _ answer  _ any of them. 

He watched carefully as the metal started to bend very  _ very  _ slowly downward. He tried to ignore the slightly uncomfortable warmth that was starting to seep into the gloves, as he kept his hands steady and helped guide the Hook towards the correct shape. 

It was a very long process. They had to wait for the metal to heat up to the perfect temperature (too cold, and it wouldn’t budge. Too hot, and they would risk it either warping or completely melting beyond repair) before Zim could even begin to manipulate its shape. Then the actual act of bending it took ages longer because if they moved it  _ too  _ quickly, they risked it snapping clean in half. 

Dib’s back had a dull ache after the five minute mark, but he didn’t dare reposition his posture. And his fingers already felt stiff and sweaty inside the gloves-which Dib was quickly learning did not breath  _ at all _ . 

The whole process probably took about twelve or thirteen minutes; maybe even longer, but he couldn’t exactly check his watch to track the time.

When Zim was satisfied, the appendages stopped glowing-seeming to cool almost instantly-then returned to his PAK. Dib took that as a cue to withdraw his hands from the still glowing Hook. He didn’t hesitate to remove the gloves and happily flexed his stiff and sweaty fingers as he sat up straight and rolled his sore shoulders. 

Though-as he cracked his knuckles and stretched his fingers and wrists out-he found that he couldn’t really take his eyes off the still glowing metal of the Hook. It was such a  _ fascinating  _ shade of purple/red, and he was half tempted to see what color it would look like in HD mode-or exactly how hot it would show up with the Thermal setting...but, with the broken lense-and how much he’s already used the different settings today-it was probably best not to strain his eyes any further, especially over a simple curiosity.

“Dib-smell!” Zim snapped.

Dib pulled his gaze away from the still glowing Hook and met Zim’s fake purple eyes. Judging by how the alien held his antennae-and how he had one eye squinted at him-Dib was certain that Zim had just instructed him to do something else, and he’d completely missed it. He gave the alien an apologetic and awkward shrug with his best innocent face.

“Ugh.” Zim rolled his eyes then pointed forcefully at the other damaged Hook. “Hold it!”

“Yeah, yeah.” Dib mumbled as he scooted around the edge of the gaping hole in the ship left by the missing engine. He then settled into a more comfortable sitting position next to the second Hook. He pulled the gloves back on before placing his hands on the cool, hard alien metal of the Hook. Zim knelt across from him, and the two of them repeated the same process to bend it back into the proper shape. 

Dib sat and watched, holding the Hook carefully and tightly for the next ten to twenty minutes. The discomfort of his back and stiff fingers steadily moving from a whisper to a casual conversation-uncomfortable and noticeable, but easily enough to ignore considering how important this was.

Once that was taken care of, Zim shooed Dib away. The boy inched back about half a foot before he stretched his arms over his head and leaned back to crack his aching back in several places (Zim gave him a brief and startled look at the sound but didn’t say anything). Dib then eagerly removed the gloves-discreetly stuffing them into his trench coat pocket before he flexed the cramps out his hands again. He cracked his knuckles several times, very loudly (Zim gave him another, even more startled and absolutely revolted look as he did, and Dib almost laughed in response). He then sat cross legged and leaned back casually-with his hands resting on the ship behind him-as he watched Zim start examining the Control Wires. The alien hoped to either fix, or at the very least salvage them, in some way.

Dib watched closely, following each wire with his eyes in the hopes of memorizing how each one was supposed to attach to the engine. Maybe if he could draw up some blueprints he could convince his dad to help him reverse engineer the alien spacecraft? Wouldn’t it be awesome if he could build one of his own!

_ No...Dad would never agree to that. He always says space is boring and only worth studying from afar.  _ Dib let out a small wistful sigh.  _ Still, it wouldn’t hurt to at least draw up the blueprints, right? Even if Dad isn't interested, someone in the Swollen Eyeball would be.  _

Zim suddenly stood and moved away from the engine, his PAK legs emerged and carried him down into the cockpit in a quick and fluid motion. Dib watched him curiously for a moment before he adjusted his glasses and got onto his belly to army crawl over to the edge. He poked his head and shoulders over the side to try and watch the alien work within the ship. 

Zim tapped at the console, the lights slowly flickered on. After a brief stuttering start, the lights dimmed to almost nothing before they brightened to the same glow they had before the crash. Zim shifted his position so that he was hanging sideways but facing the console head on. The alien started reading the symbols on display.

“Retupmoc,” Zim said in a commanding voice, “nur a citsongaid no Senigne Eno urht Rouf.” 

“Gnissecorp.” The ship responded in a loud-almost aggressive-voice. Dib eagerly inched forward with a wide grin and wild eyes, his heart pounding with excitement. 

_ ALIEN LANGUAGE! _

The boy leaned further over the edge, trying to get a good look at the console monitor. He silently hoped his glasses wouldn’t fall off, as he had to use both hands to grip the smooth edge of the ship to avoid falling off.

Though, it’s not that he would have  _ understood  _ the spoken words or odd symbols on the console any better by being a few inches closer-seeing that it was in the same alien language that it's been this whole time…but he was just too excited to care about  _ that  _ logic.

“Citsongaid etelpmoc!” The ship said after a few seconds. “Stluser: Enigne Eno; gnitarepo ta thgie-ytenin ycneiciffe. Enigne Owt gnitarepo ta eerht-ytriht ycneiciffe. Enigne Eerht gnitarepo ta xis-ytenin ycneiciffe. Enigne Rouf gnitarepo ta xis-ythgie tniop evif evif neves ycneiciffe.”

Zim made a disappointed ‘tsk’ noise, his antenna leaning back in annoyance and an almost worried look in his eyes as they narrowed at the readings on the screen.

Dib dared to reach a hand forward and pushed his glasses up his nose. He then regripped the edge before wiggling as far forward as he dared-his belly button pressing uncomfortably into the edge of the ship as he practically hung upside down to look into the cockpit at Zim. “What was that all about?” He asked, the grin still on his face as his eyes sparkling with excitement.

Zim looked up at him and glared. “I had the ship’s computer run a diagnostic on the engines.”

“Yeah? And?” Dib asked enthusiastically. He could feel his blood slowly rushing to his head, and it made him feel a little giddy. Or maybe that was just the excitement of learning more about an alien ship, an alien language, an  _ alien _ !

Zim rolled his eyes and gave an annoyed sigh, “Engine One and Three and fine. Four is damaged, but functional. And Two is...more damaged than Zim first thought. Which means I need to complete more repairs, before we can even attempt to reattach it to the ship.”

“I see,” Dib thought for a moment. “ What else do we have to do to fix it?”

“There  _ is  _ nothing else we can do. Not without the proper replacement parts.” Zim growled, glaring at the console. After a moment, his PAK legs shifted so he was hovering over a different section of the controls, allowing him to type away rapidly at a holographic keyboard. “We would need more Control Wires, which Zim does not have here.”

“What if…” Dib wondered aloud as he turned his head to look towards one of the other engines-still hanging mostly upside down. That giddy lightheadedness feeling slowly increased, but it seemed to help him think more clearly. Plus, his back was getting a very nice gravity assisted stretch, so he didn’t want to sit up just yet. “What if we took the parts from Engine One and Three? Add some of their wires to Engine Two? Would that work?”

“Of course not  _ stupid  _ hyuman!” Zim snapped, still typing away. “...Wait!” Zim stopped and looked up at Dib triumphantly, “Zim has a  _ brilliant  _ idea!”

“Yeah? What?” Dib asked, “Whoa!” He quickly rolled to the right as Zim suddenly shot out of the cockpit on his PAK legs (almost stepping on him with those sharp ends!) and scurried past. Dib almost lost his grip on the ship and panickedly scrambled against the smooth metal surface for a hold as Zim stood between Engines One and Three, grinning maniacally. 

Dib struggled to pull himself back onto the top of the ship (well,  _ technically  _ the tail, since it was stuck between the two trees face down), as he sat up to catch his breath, Zim started explaining his  _ ‘brilliant’  _ plan.

“Zim can take some of the Control Wires from Engine One and Three!” Zim exclaimed as he opened a panel on the side of Engine One and stuck both arms up to his elbows into the bowels of the engine and started rummaging around. “And use them to fix Engine Two! Ah-ha!” He withdrew his claws, colorful wires gripped in his black gloves. “Zim is  _ truly  _ brilliant! You may worship me now, Urth-smell!”

“Hey, wait! That’s exactly what I just said!” Dib protested as he got to his feet.

Zim waved a dismissive clawed hand at him as he removed a second small bundle of wires, “Don’t be silly Urth-stupid. This was all  _ Zim’s  _ brilliance!” He closed the panel and turned towards the next engine.

Dib huffed and crossed his arms, glaring hard at the back of the alien’s green head. He wasn’t going to bother arguing at this point, it would only slow the progress of fixing the ship.  _ I’ll just make sure Kailah knows it was really  _ my  _ idea to use the parts from the other engines to fix the broken one. _

Speaking of which…

As Zim moved over to Engine Two and started stripping and splicing the wires together, Dib readjusted his glasses and looked over to where he’d left Kailah. She was still sitting there, leaning against a tree about a dozen yards away.

Dib closed his left eye and switched his glasses to HD mode. 

Chomp was laying next to her, their head still in her lap and eyes towards Dib. Dib raised his hand awkwardly and waved. Chomp sat up-alert. After a moment, they relaxed and laid back down. Kailah cracked open an eye and gave Dib a weak smile and a half hearted thumbs up. Dib found himself returning the smile and waved again, a little less awkwardly. 

He switched his glasses back to Normal mode and went to see how Zim’s progress was going.

Zim had a soldering flame extending from his PAK poking at the exposed wires. As Dib squatted next to him to watch, the flame went out and the metal arm retreated back into the PAK. Zim twisted the wires together with finality then stood up. Ignoring Dib, the alien moved back into the cockpit on his weird spider-like PAK legs.

“Retupmoc, taeper citsongaid no lla senigne.” He said in a sharp voice.

Curious, Dib repeated the process of army-crawling to the edge of the ship and hanging over the edge to watch and listen.

“Gnissecorp!” The ship responded, “Stluser: Senigne Eno dna Eerht era won gnitarepo ta eerht-ythgie tnecrep ycneiciffe. Enigne Owt si gninnur ta ytxis tnecrep ycneiciffe. On segnahc ot Enigne Rouf.” 

“Victory for Zim!” The alien shouted triumphantly, his antennae stood straight up as he raised both arms above his head and his face split into a huge grin.

“You’re welcome.” Dib muttered under his breath, assuming that meant his idea had fixed the ship. He saw Zim’s antennae twitch.

“For what?” He scoffed with a dismissive wave of a claw, not even looking towards Dib and he started typing again. “It was Zim’s idea to use the Control Wires from Engines One and Three! And Zim did  _ all  _ the hard work! All you did  _ hyuman  _ was hold a few pieces of metal still, Zim could have used one of my PAK limbs for that!”

Dib opened his mouth to argue but was cut off by Zim swiftly climbing out of the cockpit again-passing right over Dib before the boy could even react. Zim moved towards Engine Two one last time as Dib struggled to crawl backwards so he could sit up.

With the help of his PAK legs, Zim was lifting up the still partially disconnected engine and carefully maneuvering it so that it lined up properly with the Connector Hooks. Dib stood up and started casually brushing off his shirt and pants as he watched Zim lower the engine back onto its rightful place on the ship. Zim paused a moment to connect the Control Wires to the main port of the engine, then lowered it the rest of the way.

“Success!” Zim shouted after a loud triple-click echoed around them. His PAK legs folded and disappeared into their home as the alien turned to Dib with a huge smug grin.

“Alright, cool.” Dib said, still casually dusting off his trench coat’s sleeves. “Now, how exactly do you plan on getting it unstuck from the trees?” He added with a small smirk.

Zim’s smug expression sat frozen on his face for a moment, then his antennae wilted and his grin seemed to melt right off as he slowly turned to look up at the two giant oak trees, his eyes big and round, his shoulders slumping in defeat.

“Zim,” The alien muttered to himself then hesitated. “Zim could cut the trees down with a laser…” he scratched his chin thoughtfully. He stood up straight, as his antenna twitched and bobbed while he mentally went through his options.

Dib just watched the alien with his hands casually resting on his hips. He was fascinated by how much personality and emotions seemed to be conveyed by the two simple, straight, black lines atop the alien’s green head. Dib found himself wondering; if he studied them closely enough, would he be able to read Zim’s train of thought?

The antennae twitched up, alert, as Zim examined the tree on the right, muttering softly to himself.

The antennae leaned back, thoughtful, determined, and annoyed, as Zim turned to examine the tree on the left, still muttering.

One antenna twitched up, curious...possibly intrigued? As Zim bent down to see exactly how the ship was stuck between the two trees.

Both antennae flattened against the alien’s skull, annoyed, most likely irritated or...angry? Oh, wait, Zim was glaring at Dib.

“Do your audio receptors have gunk in them?!” Zim shouted, standing up again.

“...What?” Dib blinked, more confused by the words used than hostility behind them.

“Zim said get off the Voot! I’m going to cut it free from these disgusting  _ fffilth  _ Urth-plants. And you’re in the way!”

“Oh. Alright, yeah.” Dib said with a casual shrug as he went to the edge of the Voot and sat down, he inched forward on his butt before carefully sliding off the side of the ship. He landed on his feet with a soft thud several feet below. He glanced up at the alien one more time, Zim had yet another metal arm sticking out of his PAK (seriously,  _ how  _ many different gadgets did that thing have hidden inside?!), this one had a small blue laser at the tip that started cutting into the bark of the tree on the right-a wisp of dark gray smoke snaked up towards the sky. Dib pushed his glasses up his nose as he watched for a moment, then he stuffed his hands in his coat pockets-feeling the stolen gloves hidden away there-and casually walked over to Kailah.

“Back already?” She asked in a half-tired, half-teasing voice. She didn’t even open her eyes; Chomp probably alerted her to his approach.

“Yeah, we actually got it all fixed!” Dib grinned.

“Yeah?” She cracked an eye open and looked up at him. Her color was back to normal, and her breathing seemed better too, though she looked exhausted and in a bit of pain. Which, yeah, she probably was.

“Yuh-huh, Zim’s working on getting the ship free of the trees now, then we should be good to go.” Dib pulled his hands out of his pockets, rolled back his sleeve, and checked his watch. “Oh wow, It’s already a little after three!...I didn’t think we were working on the ship that long.” Wasn’t it around ten when they’d crashed? Had the lesson and repairs really taken almost  _ six  _ hours?!  _ How _ ?! Well, actually...Zim had worked on the ship for about an hour before the fight with Chomp. So, really the lesson and repairs with Dib’s help had probably only taken about four and a half hours...still, time flies when you’re learning about alien technology...apparently. He stuffed his hands back in his pockets and looked at her again. “How...how are you feeling?”

She shrugged slightly, “Better than I was, and worse.” She chuckled dryly. “My head’s still killing me. But I’m not thirsty anymore...still starving though. I also  _ really  _ wanna take a nap, but Chomp wont let me,” She paused then rolled her eyes. “Yeah,” she agreed unhappily in an almost mocking tone, “Cause you’re not supposed to fall asleep when you have a concussion, I know, I know.” She sighed and muttered: “Still doesn’t change the fact that I want to sleep.” She suddenly let out a soft, happy noise and Dib saw her cheek press in in a weird way, like something round was pressing against it and moving back and forth.

“I thought about working on homework.” She continued as she playfully pushed the invisible Chomp away from her. “Or maybe reading, or drawing, or something to help pass the time. But  _ unfortunately _ , my bag’s still in the ship. And I knew Zim would have a  _ fit  _ if Chomp went to go retrieve them. So, I’ve been bored out of my mind.”

“Yeah,” Dib snorted, “Zim probably would have thrown a huge tantrum.” He thought for a moment, “But, it’s probably best that you didn’t. With concussions and stuff you’re not supposed to put any strain on your brain, right?” He pointed awkwardly to his own head. “Like, reading and TV are both big no-nos aren’t they?” He shifted his hand to push his glasses up his nose, unsure if that last bit was actually true or not. “So...homework probably wouldn’t be good either?”

Kailah gave another small shrug “Hmm, yeah, probably.” She rubbed the side of her head gently. “Though-as I said-with nothing else to do, these last few hours really got me thinking...”

“Yeah?” He glanced over his shoulder distractedly as he heard Zim loudly cursing in that alien language. Zim was still working away with his laser, the cloud of smoke thickening.

“Okay,” Kailah said in a very serious tone that brought Dib’s attention back to her. Her face was all business. “So, for starters; I take back what I said on Tuesday.”

Dib’s brow quickly furrowed in confusion.

“Bigfoot could totally hide out in a forest like this, and no one would have a single clue.” One arm waved around at the trees all around them.

Dib was caught so off guard by that statement that he actually burst out laughing. Kailah grinned up at him in response-though she did seem to wince a little at the sudden loud noise.

“So you believe in Bigfoot now?!” He asked with a grin.

“Now, hold on, I didn’t say that.” She chuckled. “I just  _ withdraw  _ my previous statement; that something that  _ big  _ wouldn’t be able to hide out in the woods unnoticed. Cause, well...we crashed an alien ship several hours ago and no one has shown up to investigate. So, I can accept the  _ possibility  _ of an eight foot ape creature hanging out in the woods and trolling hikers.”

“So,” Dib repeated, emphasizing each word slowly. “you believe in Bigfoot now?” He gave her a big dookie-eating grin in response to her laugh.

“Yeah, yeah, alright. Fine.” She returned his grin, a little ruefully but in a friendly way. “You’ve convinced me. I believe in Bigfoot now.”

Dib froze as he felt his face heat up a bit. ‘ _ You’ve convinced me _ .’ He reached up to adjust his glasses awkwardly and turned away to fully face the ship, pretending to watch Zim’s progress in hopes of hiding his face. ‘ _ You’ve convinced me, I believe… _ ’ The words echoed around him. He...he actually  _ convinced  _ someone that something was real!? And she...she’s been thinking about that conversation since  _ Tuesday _ ?! She actually  _ listened  _ to him, thought about it, and...accepted that Bigfoot was real?! 

Then...shouldn’t he feel more triumphant right now? Why did he feel so awkward...and embarrassed...yet in a good way?? Why did he feel so... _ shy _ ??

“I also have, like, dozens of questions about vampires now.” Kailah said, not seeming to catch the shift in mood from Dib. _ Or perhaps  _ pretending  _ not to notice it? _ “The holy water and garlic got me thinking about them.”

“Oh?” Dib asked, trying to sound as casual as possible. He refused to look at her as he busied himself with watching the wispy trail of smoke climbing towards the canopy. That simple sentence shouldn’t be affecting him this much,  _ especially  _ since she’d admitted to believing in other stuff like ghosts, nessie, and aliens! So...why was her now believing in Bigfoot, affecting him so much? Was it just cause he’d never managed to change someone’s mind about the existence of paranormal stuff before? Or was it something else?...He must have a concussion from the crash, yeah, that had to be it. That’s why he was feeling all weird.

“Yeah, so, ya know how vampires can’t enter a house without permission?” 

Dib hummed in agreement and turned his head so he could watch her out of the corner of his eye. She placed her hands on the ground and pushed herself up a bit, scooting back against the tree so she could sit up a little straighter.

“Okay, so,” She paused and let out an amused snort, “Chomp, shut up. I think it’s a valid question!” She snickered a little before continuing, though as she spoke it sounded like she was trying her best to hold back her laughter. “Right, so, uh... Would a-. Do you think a tent would be con-considered private property? To the point that a vampire would need per-permission to-to  _ enter  _ it.” She lost composure and let out a laugh while waving her hand in a shooing motion to her side. “Chomp, please, I’m trying to ask a  _ serious  _ question and you’re making me laugh!”

Dib couldn’t help it, he smiled a little-the sound was almost infectious. And honestly, it was also a  _ bit  _ of an odd question to boot. Though he did try to take it seriously as he half turned back towards her to reply. He looked around at the trees as he thought of an answer. “I don’t think so? I mean, yeah, tent’s could be considered private property, I guess? But, they’re not usually set up on land that you own...and they’re only temporary, plus they’re made out of canvas...so I don’t think it would follow the same rules that a permanent wooden house does.” He tilted his head up towards the sky and started thinking out loud. “Though, I guess if you use the tent frequently enough it could work? Like, camp out every weekend for a month or more to establish it as a living space?” He looked towards her with a thoughtful expression. “I’d have to ask the online forums that one. But you’d probably be better off just building a small circle around the tent with garlic cloves and a few crosses.”

Kailah nodded thoughtfully, “Alright. Fair.” She seemed satisfied, though still curious. “Okay, next question.” She said with a sly smirk. “Ya know how vampires can’t cross running water?”

“...yeah?” He tilted his head slightly, his brows furrowed a tad, unsure where she was going.

She leaned forward and gave him a very serious look-or, rather-she  _ tried  _ to give him a very serious look, but her eyes sparkled with amusement and her lips kept twitched as she tried to suppress a smile; as no doubt, Chomp was laughing again at whatever she was about to say.

Dib raised an eyebrow, a little amused at the struggle on her face, though also feeling a little uneasy with how hard it seemed for her to ask the question without laughing. Was it really Chomp teasing her, or was she teasing Dib and mocking him with these paranormal questions? Only pretending to be interested in his answers while silently laughing at him...

“Garden hose-” She snorted and swatted a hand in a quick ‘shut up’ motion towards the invisible Chomp while laughing. “Do-do you think...laying a gar-garden hose on the, heh, on the ground and, and turning the wa-haha-ha,” She trailed off into laughter and leaned against the tree, one hand gripping the side of her head as she tried to reel herself in. After a moment she muttered in a playfully stern tone; “Chomp, I swear this is a valid question! Stop making fun of me!” 

If it had been anyone else-or if Kailah hadn’t already explained to him how Chomp’s emotions blended with, or sometimes contradicted, her own; (or if those words ‘ _ You’ve convinced me. I believe _ ’ weren’t still fresh in his mind) Dib would have assumed right then and there that she was making fun of him and his interests in the paranormal. Just like all the other kids at skool have for his whole life. 

But, Dib could see now that she really  _ was  _ trying to keep her composure; by the way her face seemed to war against itself-split between annoyance and amusement-right before she finally broke out into laughter. He could tell by the way she laughed that she wasn’t laughing  _ at  _ him (like she had earlier, when he was caught red handed trying to pet Chomp). She was truly laughing  _ at  _ herself-or rather...Chomp was laughing at her, which then made her laugh? 

Whatever the case, Dib didn’t find himself feeling defensive like he usually did when someone laughed like this. He instead he found himself watching her with an almost amused smile on his own face.

“Will you please just let me ask? Dib’s probably the one and only person who’ll actually have a good answer to this! And it’s been bothering me for  _ hours  _ now!” Kailah requested the empty space next to her with a lopsided grin.

Dib felt his face heat up again and tried to open his mouth to respond.

**_KKRRRUUUUMPP!!_ **

Dib jumped, yelped, spun around, and got into a ready-to-fight stance at all the same time.

Kailah let out a surprised scream at the same moment that Chomp leapt to their feet and moved to stand next to Dib-looking like a giant puffball.

Zim started laughing very loudly and very maniacally from atop his Voot, which sat rightside up on the forest floor; free from the trees and all four engines aglow and ready to go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All the Irken is basically just written backwards so it should be really easy to decipher, but if you need help, just leave a comment and i'll give you all the translations :)
> 
> Some of you may not understand exactly just how much obsessive research I did to get answers to those Vampire questions (which have been bothering me for over a month lol) if you don't follow me on tumblr. (@VelociraptorAddict), but trust me, I have literally dozens more questions that I may or may not try to shoehorn in later lol. And since it took over a month of asking different people just to get the answers that I felt like I had to include them here ^_^; 
> 
> Flirk belongs to Hecallsmehischild and I will continue to use it lol


	13. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

_ Stupid Dib.  _ Up. A. A. Right.  _ Playing hookie and not even telling me.  _ B. Right. AA. A.  _ Oh, he’ll pay for that.  _ A. B. B. Right. AAB.  _ Since when has he had friends anyway?!  _ Down. Right. BBA. Left. A. A. A!

“Finally.” Gaz muttered as the Big Boss went down and victory music started playing. She moved her character on the small, handheld Game Slave forward to collect the loot. Skool had ended over half an hour ago, it had only taken her about two minutes to find out her brother wasn’t here, so she’d spent the remaining time sitting on the front steps; playing her game to get past this Boss, and waiting to see if Dib would return. 

Gaz had asked around-to whatever dimwitted classmates of Dib’s she was able to corner in the halls-only to come and find out: that he’d  _ left  _ before class had even  _ started  _ this morning! And with the two new kids for some reason??!

What was Dib even doing skipping skool with  _ those  _ two freaks of nature? That silent loner girl-what was her name? Dib had mentioned it at lunch yesterday; Kaylee?...Whatever. Dib had invited her to sit with them-without even  _ asking  _ Gaz if she was okay with it! 

Then there was the literal green kid that Dib seemed convinced was an alien...and, yeah, he totally  _ was _ . But Gaz wasn’t about to give her annoying brother the satisfaction of her admitting he was right about something-for  _ once _ . And somehow, everyone at this skool seemed to actually be  _ stupid  _ enough to be convinced that-what was his name? Zit? or something...whatever-they were actually stupid enough to be convinced that he was just a ‘normal’ kid that had some weird skin condition? 

_ Idiots _ .

_ “ _ And I can’t believe he actually left me behind _.”  _ Gaz growled and grumbled under her breath after she managed to gather all the loot and make it to a save point in her game. She turned off the Game Slave and put it away in her bag. 

Skipping skool was something Gaz had  _ always  _ wanted to do! Run off and spend the whole day at an arcade, or the mall, or anywhere more fun than this slow, boring torture fest of a skool. But Dib was  _ alway  _ the goodie-two-shoes saying that ‘skipping is  _ wrong _ , and we should stay in  _ skool  _ and blah blah blah!’  _ PHEH! Stupid Dib!  _ She was going to make him beg and plead for her not to tell Dad about this! 

Gaz would make him do the dishes for a month! Make him clean her room! 

Wait, no, that would mean he’d have to go  _ in  _ her room…

She’d make him clean the bathroom for a  _ year _ !! And sort through and organize the garage!

She’d make him clean his  _ own  _ room!!

She hopped off the stairs and took one last look around the skoolyard. At this point she knew Dib wasn’t coming back. She would have  _ thought  _ he’d have the common sense to return before the final bell rang (so that she  _ wouldn’t  _ find out that he’d skipped in the first place!)...But then again, it was  _ Dib _ . He didn’t exactly have ‘ _ common sense _ ’. 

Still. She’d then at least  _ expect  _ him to try and get back to skool in time to walk her home! It wasn’t like him to go straight home without her…

He may be the world’s  _ biggest  _ headache-and just about all around the most annoying person  _ ever _ ...but he was usually a decent big brother. He’d never forgotten or left her behind before...

_ Why would he have even run off in the first place? Dib is horrible at keeping secrets, he would have let something slip if he knew he was going to skip...so does that mean this wasn’t planned?  _

Gaz started walking away from the skool.  _ Maybe he isn’t playing hookie... _

His classmates had said he almost got in a fight with Zit, then left to take Kaylee to the nurse’s office (something about her fainting? No one was really clear on that), and they just never returned. The Nurse had said she never received any visitors matching either of their descriptions. 

When Gaz asked around about Zit, no one had any answers about him-well, except one kid, who remembered seeing him enter homeroom, shout a bunch about something (when pressed further for more details the kid just shrugged, which made Gaz want to punch him in his stupid idiot face!), then, Zit left shortly after the ‘lame almost fight’. After that, Dib had left with Kaylee for the nurse. And none of them ever came back?

_ So...what did that mean?  _ Gaz tried to puzzle it out as she walked.  _ Did they stage a fight as an excuse to all leave? Or did Zit do something to them afterwards in the hallway? _

Was Gaz going to have to find and rescue her useless and hopeless brother?

The worst part about all of this was; since her brother wasn’t around to walk her home, she had to actually pay attention to where she was going and put her game away! With Dib, she could follow him while focusing on her game. She didn’t have to worry about taking a wrong turn or looking both ways when crossing the street, cause Dib did all of that. 

It was actually the main reason she’d stayed an extra half-hour on the front steps. 

Sure, part of her was waiting to see if her brother  _ actually  _ showed back up-but mostly-she wanted to defeat that Boss before she got home and had to focus on  _ homework _ . 

She  _ had  _ expected Dib to still be here to walk her home, so she hadn’t spedrun the game during lunch (not seeing Dib at lunch hadn’t even registered to her, seeing that Kaylee and Zit were also missing), thinking she’d have enough time to finish it on the way home. 

_ But noooo,  _ she kicked at a rock on the sidewalk.  _ He had to go play hookie, or get himself kidnapped, or killed, or whatever with his new  _ ‘friend’,  _ and leave me to walk home alone! The self-centered idiot jerk! _

Gaz found herself again trying to puzzle over why exactly Dib was only just now interested in Kaylee. Zit she could understand, he’d just shown up  _ yesterday _ , and was the  _ exact  _ thing that would grab Dib’s all consuming attention and stupid  _ paranormal  _ obsession. 

But Kaylee? She’s been here for a  _ month  _ and yet Dib was only just now seeming to notice her existence? As far as Gaz knew, there wasn’t anything special about her that would have caught Dib’s attention all of a sudden. Sure,  _ Gaz  _ had noticed that weird, dark, and ever shifting aurora that seemed to hang around Kaylee on Day One! 

But Gaz was pretty sure only she could see that, if Dib could, he never would have  _ shut up _ about it! And she definitely would never mention it to him-because she  _ knew  _ she’d never hear the end of it if she did. Because it was something that, even Gaz, could  _ begrudgingly  _ admit  _ might  _ be something supernatural related.

So, what changed recently to catch his attention? He never once mentioned how weird it was that she ate the exact same packed lunch every day, while she sat all by herself in the same abandoned corner of the cafeteria. Or how, during recess, she always went off to hang out by herself under that tree. He’s never given that girl a second glance before, and then to  _ suddenly  _ have a  _ whole  _ conversation with her the day  _ before  _ the  _ literal  _ alien showed up? What kind of  _ coincidence  _ was that?! 

Then just two days later-today-Dib just...disappeared from skool? With both of them?? 

Gaz hated mysteries or secrets or puzzles or whatever. And this whole situation was a big heaping mix of an enigma wrapped up in a big fat old question mark. Or however that stupid saying went...and she hated it.

She kicked at another loose rock on the sidewalk as she silently promised herself to beat the answer out of Dib next time she saw him.

Gaz was used to her brother’s  _ weird  _ obsessions and behavior. He often dragged her off on different  _ ‘Paranormal  _ Investigations’. Like that one time when he thought he saw Bigfoot using their belt sander. Or that time he  _ swore  _ the house down the street’s swimming pool had a water sprite living in it’s filter system. Or that time he claimed to see a vampire out behind the 24/7 gas station on the other side of town. Or that time he swore he saw a ghost, ghoul, or zombie, or whatever wandering the local cemetery at night. Or when he ripped up her favorite pair of shoes so he could leave them out for  _ leprechauns  _ to come fix. She hated every single one of those ‘Investigations’. 

So, what was this feeling that she was feeling at the thought of Dib leaving her behind and running off on one such  _ stupid  _ and weird ‘Investigation’? Especially with those two complete strangers and  _ freaks  _ of nature, instead of her?

“Stupid idiot.” She growled under her breath. “If Dad gets home first, I’m not covering for you.” She vowed as she continued stomping down the sidewalk, fists clenched at her sides. She silently seethed as she tried to put the pieces together. He almost got in a fight with Zit, then ditched class with a semi-unconscious Kaylee.

Maybe the two weren’t actually connected? Maybe Dib and Zit didn’t leave skool together? But then, Dib never made it to the nurse with Kaylee...so where else  _ would  _ he have gone? It made more sense that Dib would disappear somewhere with the  _ alien _ , than it would for him to drag the girl to a hospital or something...ugh, it felt like Gaz only had about a dozen pieces to a hundred piece puzzle; there were way too many unknowns. 

Like: Yesterday. After skool, Kaylee followed Dib and Gaz home, talking about weird stuff like ‘emotions’ and ‘Log-rin’ and a lot of heavy handed hints about  _ ‘aliens’  _ and-...actually-that’s probably why Dib was suddenly so interested in her. She actually seemed super willing to talk to him about that stupid stuff-and even seemed like she believed in the paranormal like him?

...if Kaylee knew something about aliens...and that green kid  _ was  _ an alien. Then, there was no doubt about it, of course Dib would run off with them to do who  _ knows _ what. But why wouldn’t he tell Gaz? He’d always dragged her kicking and screaming on his investigations...why suddenly leave her out? Was it just cause it was a skool day? Was it  _ really  _ a last second decision, so he didn’t have time to get or even tell her? Or was he trying to  _ hide  _ something from her?

Gaz growled and grumbled some more as she kicked an empty poop can out of her path, it clattered and skittered away and under some bushes. She was definitely going to beat the answers out of Dib tonight.

She looked up to see that familiar electric blue fence around her front yard. She grunted and adjusted her backpack as she walked up the front porch steps. She placed her thumb on the dead bolt. After a second the lock turned green, and the door swung in.

Gaz kicked off her shoes by the door, and dropped her backpack off near the couch She then made her way into the kitchen to prepare an after skool snack. 

The one good thing about Dib not being here: she could get the last poop cola and dibs on any snack she wanted without her brother whining in the background.

With the ice cold poop tucked into the crook of an elbow, and a plate piled high with steaming hot pizza rolls, Gaz settled down on the couch and turned on the TV. She placed the food and drink on the coffee table, then flipped through the channels for something to act as background noise while she worked on her homework. Settling on some made-for-TV horror movie, she popped a pizza roll into her mouth as she pulled out her homework.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Vampire by the 24/7 gas station on the other side of town is a reference to "Dark Investments" by Pipefoxesonthemoon which is the reason there are so many darn Vampire references in this fic lol  
> If you haven't read it yet, you should definitely check it out! Though, warning, it is a little violent :3


	14. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is dedicated to childhood memories and nostalgia.

**Chapter 13**

  
  


“Look, I know it sounds  _ absolutely  _ ridiculous!” Kailah said with an impish grin. “I just want to know if it would  _ work  _ or not!”

“I don’t-...I mean!” Dib felt a little flustered as he pushed his glasses up his nose for the eight-hundredth time. He tried to find the right words as his leg started bouncing and his hands circled each other in front of him. “ _ Technically _ ?! But I would  **_not_ ** recommend it!”

“Oh?” Her grin grew a bit wider, seeming to feed off his nervous energy-but in an oddly friendly way, rather than a teasing or bullying one? “And why’s that?”

“Cause!” He tried to search for the right words, his hands literally grasping at the air as he raked his brain-his leg started to pick up speed until Zim slapped it. “Ow!  _ Jerk _ .” Dib gave him an offended glare as he tried to scoot further away from the alien. Unfortunately, there wasn’t exactly any more room in the small Voot  _ for  _ him to get away from the alien’s reach. The two humans were already squished up against the side-pressed fairly close together-so Zim could have access to the whole control dashboard. 

Kailah had the worst of it (in Dib’s opinion, at least), she was pressed up against the side wall in an uncomfortable looking twisted position; where her bottom half faced forward and her top half was turned towards Dib, her back pressed against the metal paneling and glass windshield of the ship. (Chomp was shaped like a Ball Python again, their lower half wrapped around her neck, while their top half stretched out and hovered towards the windshield to keep an eye out for their destination). 

Dib felt kinda awkward, sitting as close as he was. Their legs having been pressed together practically since take off; he  _ totally  _ would have sat more in the middle of the bench seat to try and give her some personal space if he could; except  _ Zim  _ keep  _ thwapping  _ his knee every time he so much as let it twitch in thought!

“Cause why?” Kailah prompted in a friendly and curious tone, bringing Dib’s attention back to her. So far, she hadn’t seemed to show any signs that she was annoyed, irritated, or disgusted by Dib’s closeness. In fact, she mostly seemed to be pretending it wasn’t even happening, simply giving him a casual and friendly smile as she tried to prompt him to continue their conversation.

But, that didn’t exactly stop the voice in Dib’s head from whispering such negative thoughts to him anyway. How could she be so okay with him wedging her against the ship in such an uncomfortable looking position? His sister definitely would have killed him ages ago.

“Cause!” He started, then paused to awkwardly clear his throat a little as he tried to remember what point he was actually trying to argue. He pushed his glasses up his nose, again. The bent frame was  _ so  _ much more annoying than the cracked lense at this point! When he started talking again, he used his hands to emphasize his points. “Though,  _ yes _ , technically, a garden hose could be considered running water-and  _ probably  _ could stop a Vampire. It’s such a  _ narrow  _ stream of water!  _ Plus _ , it only goes as far as the hose can shoot it;  _ meaning  _ it would be very easy for the Vampire to just,  _ go around  _ it!- _ especially _ with how fast they are!  _ Or  _ they could simply just  _ walk  _ over to the handle and turn it off!!”

Kailah hummed and tilted her head thoughtfully-her face a polite neutral as she actually  _ listened  _ to him and  _ thought  _ about what he was saying!? It was...almost unsettling. Like, he didn’t have to try and convince her to listen, she just did? But then that impish grin returned; along with the subtle and very familiar feeling that Dib was being mocked for his paranormal interests. Yeah, that felt more right. 

“But what if-” Her own giggle cut her off as she waved a hand in a ‘shushing’ motion towards-where Dib was sure-Chomp was still hovering by the windshield. She took a breath to try to regain her composure, then she asked in a tone of voice that suggested she was trying-and failing-to be serious. “What if: you laid the hose down in a circle? Lead the Vampire into the circle,  _ then  _ turned it on! You’d have them trapped!”

Dib opened his mouth to retort, paused, then closed it with a soft “Huh.” He was actually caught off guard by that suggestion. He placed his hand on his chin and looked down at the purple, alien metal floor thoughtfully.  _ Would that actually work? _

After a moment of silent contemplation, Zim slapped his knee again.

“ _ Ow _ !” Dib yelped in an almost insulted and frustrated tone as he jumped away from the alien. He hadn’t even realized his leg had started bouncing.

“Will you stop it with that  _ infernal  _ flirking leg jiggling!” Zim hissed as he glared at him. The alien’s antennae were pressed flat against his head. He hadn’t put his wig back on yet, though his purple contacts were still in, and they seemed to be filled with annoyed hatred as they glowered at Dib.

“I can’t  _ help  _ it!” Dib protested, wincing as his voice cracked slightly. “It’s a completely involuntary thing! I don’t even realize I’m doing it half the time!” Just like he didn’t realize he was now pressing his back firmly into Kailah; until she made several soft noises to indicate that his cowlick was practically smothering her and she couldn’t breathe.

He quickly leaned away from her with an embarrassed and softly mumbled apology. His ears started to burn as he self consciously ran his hands through his hair, trying-and failing-to smooth his uncooperative and unruly cowlick. 

Kailah just seemed to laugh it off casually-saying it was fine-as she rubbed at her face with one hand, as if to try and relieve an itch. That didn’t exactly make him feel any better.

Zim rolled his eyes with an irritated huff as he reached over in front of Dib and stabbed at a few buttons on the dashboard. Dib awkwardly scooted back to his original position-squished against Kailah-to give Zim access to the whole console. The alien almost seemed to ignore them as he muttered something under his breath, jabbed at two more buttons, then went back to having both claws on the steering yoke.

“Okay,” Kailah said, pulling Dib’s attention towards her again. “So..?” She looked at him expectantly.

Dib blinked at her, still feeling that uncomfortable burning in his ears as he tried to remember what the original question was.  _ Oh, right, garden hoses. _ He shrugged. “I want to say...yes? But honestly, again, better not to?” He gave an awkward laugh. “If it works-or if it doesn’t-you’ll have a  _ very  _ angry Vampire on your hands. So you’d better have a plan B, and not  _ just  _ a garden hose.”

“Fair.” She gave him a large playful grin then glanced to the side with a soft and curious ‘Hm?’, the smile disappearing for a moment as she seemed to listen to something.

There was a heavy moment of silence. Zim watched the three of them from the corner of his narrowed eye, the antenna closest to them twitching up slightly in curiosity.

“Oh, right!” She turned back to Dib, the smile returning. “Okay, another question-one that Chomp-” Her head twitched towards the Loughran, “-actually agrees is a serious one, so they promise they won't make me laugh while I try to ask it.” She said in a teasing tone, that actually took Dib a moment to realize she was teasing Chomp, and not him (he was just  _ so  _ used to teasing tones being directed at him...it was so weird when they weren’t). “Well, actually a couple questions.” She corrected as that playful smile twitched a little wider, seeming eager for answers. 

It was...a nice feeling, having her look at him like that.  _ Weird  _ nice. But he liked it. She seemed genuinely interested in what he had to say. She was genuinely curious about these paranormal questions, and actually seemed to accept anything he said as the truth. Such a strange and foreign feeling. 

“What sorta training would you have to go through to make your own holy water?” She asked. “You said earlier that you got a whole thirty-six pack blessed by a priest, right? How hard do you think it would be to just get the training to be able to-I don’t know-make your own? Like, whenever you need it? Wouldn’t that be a lot more useful than having to go to a priest every time you need more? Plus then, you wouldn’t have to carry around bottles of the stuff all the time. Cause you could just make your own up on the fly?”

Dib shrugged, unconcerned. “I’ve never really looked into it? But I’m sure it takes years of training to make effective holy water...or a very strong religious belief, at the very least. Besides, having a bottle or two already made up on hand, is a lot more useful than having to go through the process of creating it yourself. Especially if you’re suddenly caught unaware by a demon, or Vampire, or whatever.”  _ Like, finding yourself out in the middle of the woods with a concussed and dehydrated girl. _

Kailah hummed softly, accepting-but not really seeming satisfied with that answer. Her gaze drifted over Dib’s shoulder, towards the windshield on the other side of Zim, a bored look creeping onto her face.

“Uh...any other questions?” Dib asked, not wanting to leave the conversation on a sour note.

Kailah turned her gaze to Chomp for a moment, then leaned her head back to look out the part of the windshield that was wrapped around behind her. After a moment she looked back at Dib with a neutral, hard to read expression. It made him feel a little uneasy.

“We did a lot of back and forth on a few different things,” She explained casually. “most of which I think we came to a good understanding or agreement on. I think those were really all the main points that we couldn’t come to an agreement on-or at least couldn’t think of an answer for.” She shrugged then held up her non-spider bitten hand as she counted off on her fingers, “Woods are big and isolated enough that bigfoot could totally just be chilling out there. Are tents considered private property? Would a garden hose be considered running water?” She paused then gave Dib a bit of a sheepish look. “Well, I guess I had a few follow ups for that one, they’re a bit stupid, but...would a shower be considered running water? Or a sewer pipe? Or a sprinkler system?...Or rain?”

“Alright, uh…” Dib let out an awkward chuckle as he ran a hand through his hair. “Shower: yes? I think so. But, honestly, that’s like a  _ hundred  _ times stupider than a garden hose.” He winced slightly when he realized what he’d said.  _ Was that too rude? Oh, man, I think that sounded really rude _ \- 

Kailah snorted in amusement and agreement. “Yeah, it is.” She grinned and seemed to exchange an amused look with the invisible Chomp. 

Dib relaxed a bit when he realized she wasn’t mad or offended by what he just said. He started talking again, but now he was awkwardly hyper aware of his word choices. “I don’t think a sewer pipe would work? I mean, yeah, technically it counts as running water? But because it’s underground, I don’t think it would actually affect them? If you lead them down into the sewers though; then yes, it would. And...as for a sprinkler system?” He paused to think about it. “Hmm, I want to say; that would  _ probably  _ fall under the same category as a shower…? But it  _ would  _ be a lot more useful?...But as for rain? No. Rain wouldn’t affect them cause it’s not…” He paused again, his gaze drifting towards the floor. He began to mumble to himself as he fell into his old habit of thinking out loud, “What’s the best way to explain it…?” He placed both hands on his knees to physically stop his legs from bouncing as he tried to find the right words. “A single stream of water? I guess? Rain is just a bunch of separate droplets.” He rubbed the back of his neck as his gaze became unfocused on the floor. “Though, I guess a shower and sprinkler system could be considered separate droplets too??...I guess as long as the shower and sprinklers are closer to a consistent stream, then yeah, but if they’re just a bunch of droplets...then  _ noo _ ??”

“Sounds right.” Kailah agreed, pulling Dib from his rambling thoughts. She gave him a smile that seemed to suggest she had a lot more confidence in his answers than he did.

Dib gave her a sheepish smile in return.

“Okay,” She held up her hand, picking back up with the counting as if they didn’t just have that tangent. “So, running water. How to make holy water...I had a  _ few  _ questions about UV lights and motion sensor cameras, but I think Chomp and I answered those ourselves well enough. Hmm…” She paused thoughtfully, “Yeah. I think that was all the vampire questions we thought about.” She lowered her hand back to her lap and gave a small, casual shrug.

Then there was an awkward pause, as the conversation seemed to have abruptly come to an end. Zim tapped away at the console and Kailah slowly turned to look back out the window. Dib sat there for a moment, unsure what-if anything-he could, or should, say next. 

The silence stretched, until Dib was certain he had missed his opportunity to continue the conversation. So, he reluctantly gave up trying to think of another topic and looked down at his hands. Holding back a disappointed sigh, he took his glasses off and held them up to the sunlight from outside-squinting to examine them. On top of the left lense being cracked, and the stupid, annoying bent frames, they were also smudged beyond belief! He lowered them to his shirt and tried to clean them off-silently thankful that he was wearing his NASAplace shirt today. It was made of the kind of fabric that actually helped clean glasses-rather than just smearing the grime around.

“ _ Zim _ has a question!” The alien said in such a sharp and sudden tone that Dib physically jolted as his fight-or-flight response was triggered. He fumbled with his glasses a moment to stop them from falling to the floor. He then squinted at the blurry, green skinned pilot; giving him a curious and annoyed glare. 

Zim was glaring sideways at the two humans, his antennae leaning back at a thirty degree angle.

“Hm?” Kailah hummed curiously, as she turned her attention away from the window. She seemed unbothered by the alien’s sudden, loud voice and hostile glare-probably because Dib was sitting between them. “Oh!” An excited look suddenly appeared in her eyes as she sat forward slightly to talk around Dib. “Okay, so Vampires are basically humans who were bitten by a Vampire and got turned. They’re these immortal beings who can’t go out in sunlight, and have to survive by drinking blood from other people. There’s a whole lot more to their mythos, which is what...we were...talking-??” She trailed off and froze as her eyes grew wide and her face seemed to slightly pale in a look of absolute fear. 

Dib raised a concerned eyebrow at her-it looked like she was suddenly struck with a horrifying thought? Her gaze slowly turned to Dib. With the strange combination of her expression, and how eerily slowly she turned her attention to him, it almost made him shiver.

“If...if Vampires come from Vampires biting and turning people…” Her voice was low and shook slightly with fear as she spoke. “Then, where did the  _ first  _ Vampire  _ come from _ ??!”

“Zim was  _ not  _ asking about Vampires!!”

“Bats.” Dib said matter-of-factly at the same time. He continued talking over Zim’s angry ‘Don’t ignore Zim!’, as he went back to cleaning his glasses. “It’s believed that bats carried a disease that mutated into Vampirism when one bit a human thousands of years ago.”

Kailah looked instantly relieved, she actually slumped back against the side of the ship with an almost crazed half laugh and muttered: “Bats. Of course, duh.” She paused. “Yeah, I forgot about those for a second…” She seemed to deflate further as a depressed shadow fell over her features. She glanced towards Chomp with a small sigh and whispered; “It’s this stupid concussion.”

Dib put his glasses back on and looked at her, his mouth twisting into a half amused, half concerned look. 

“Listen to ZIM!” He brought his fist down hard on the console, causing the whole ship to shudder slightly.

Kailah flinched, though her posture mostly remained relaxed, as she looked at Zim out of the corner of her eye. “I was. You said you weren’t asking about Vampires. I just  _ assumed  _ that’s what your question was going to be.” She vaguely waved a hand around and turned her head to face him. “Seeing that that’s what Dib and I have been  _ talking  _ about, almost nonstop, since we took off. Plus, I doubt Vampires exist in space, so I figured you have no clue  _ what  _ we’ve been talking about.” She added in an apologetic tone, though there was definitely an undercurrent of annoyance and hostility that Dib doubted Zim would be able to pick up on, unless he understood the subtlety of human syntax; which Dib doubted. “But, if that wasn’t it, then what is your question, Zim?” She asked in fake politeness, her eyes slowly becoming half lidded as she gave him a fake sweet smile.

“Earlier, you said: ‘Zim seems to know more about the Loughran than  _ we  _ do’.” His eyes narrowed as he turned to look at her full on. “How is it, that Zim would know more about the Loughran, than it would know of itself?”

Kailah frowned, a hint of confusion on her face, then she glanced at Dib.

Dib knew the answer to that question; Kailah had explained that to him just yesterday. 

Thinking back on that conversation now though, Dib started to wonder if that huge infodump was  _ actually  _ born from years of having this huge secret of an alien Bondmate’s existence (and finally having someone else to talk to about it), like he’d originally thought. 

Or, if it was actually because she hadn’t been thinking clearly due to the growing distance between her and Chomp? She had had some pretty big mood swings just prior...would she have revealed any of that to him, if she hadn’t been in the middle of-what was possibly-the biggest emotionally and mentally stressful moment of her life?

_ Wait, why is she looking at me right now _ ? Dib searched her face. Was she trying to silently ask him to keep quiet? Did she really think he’d just spill the beans about something that personal and important to a guy  _ neither  _ of them could trust half as far as they could throw him? No...her expression didn’t have that ‘shut your mouth’ vibe. It was more...like she was debating?

Her eyes slid to the side, out towards the windshield, she looked...sad? Regretful? Why? About what? What was she thinking?

Was she actually debating telling Zim? Dib started going through a quick mental list of the pros and cons of admitting to one alien, that the other had been sent to Earth as a baby, with the instructions to scout for an invasion. Should he stop her if she did decide to tell Zim? Was it even his place to make a decision like that?

_ What are you thinking?  _ Kailah asked softly.

_ I-...I don’t trust Zim.  _ Chomp thought back forcefully, with a hint of helplessness under the mistrust as they kept their eyes on the ground quickly passing below.

_ I know.  _ Kailah thought soothingly.  _ But we have to tell him something… _

_ Then...tell him- _

“I was referring to how you seemed to know that the rest of their kind were all killed. While...we simply thought that it was the vastness of space, that was the reason why they couldn’t hear the rest of the Loughran.” Kailah said, her own eyes watching the ground rushing by below with Chomp. “After all. It was  _ that  _ simple sentence from  _ you  _ that started this whole thing.” She muttered bitterly.

Zim hummed softly, eyes still narrowed suspiciously and antennae twitching in what Dib interpreted as curiosity. Then the pilot turned and tapped away at the console. 

Dib was starting to suspect that all the button pressing didn’t actually do anything; it was probably just Zim’s way of keeping his claws busy. After all, their altitude, heading, and speed didn’t seem to change at all no matter how many different buttons Zim tapped. Unless he was doing something else?

“...How’s Engine Two holding up?” Dib asked, half wanting to change the topic to relieve the sudden tension in the air, and half because he was genuinely curious on how well their repairs were holding up.

Zim’s gaze flickered to him for a moment before returning to the dashboard. “Fine. Readings are holding steady on all four engines.” He sat up rimrod straight, chest puffing out proudly and antennae standing up, one fist thumping his chest. “But of course! Zim is amazing! There should never have been any doubt that I would get the Voot flying again!”

Dib gave a noncommittal grunt, figuring it wasn’t worth pointing out that he had been the one to actually solve the problem with the Control Wires. He readjusted his glasses as he looked the dashboard over with an unimpressed expression. He tried to make sense of the different readings on display. He couldn’t.

“Oh! I think you’re right!” Kailah said excitedly, suddenly sitting up and pressing her face into the windshield to look down.

“What?” Dib and Zim asked in unison as they, too, leaned forward and over the dash to look out at the ground below. 

Zim suddenly sat back down and gently pulled back on the yoke with one claw, while tapping away rapidly at the console with the other-effectively bringing the ship to a stop mid flight, backed up quickly, then finally stopping again to hover. He jumped back up to his feet to look out and down with the others.

Dib squinted down at the ground below, it looked...off. He wasn’t quite sure if he could put his finger on it, but something about the sporadic trees and open meadows didn’t seem... _ natural _ . His eyes darted around the landscape as he tried to figure out why it didn’t look right. There appeared to be a slight haze over it, but only this small section? If he had to guess, it looked like roughly half a square mile was covered in this strange low hanging fog. 

The surrounding area was heavily wooded with large, old trees ranging from pines, to oaks, to sycamores, all of which were still mostly deep green with late summer leaves-though a few autumn colors poked through here and there. Dib even spotted several deep green mountains in the distance, which just made this small, foggy meadow all the stranger. He focused back on the layout of the small, hazy clearing below. The different meadows seemed too clean, too straight lined...yet still overgrown? And the small trees almost looked like they were purposefully placed in their positions? And, wait...was that a  _ road _ ? 

He squinted at it. It was extremely overgrown-with plants pushing up through very large cracks-and it appeared to be covered in tons of multicolored graffiti...but yeah; that was totally the remains of a road…!

As Dib’s eyes darted around again, trying to make sense of what he was seeing. Then he spotted something else familiar that caused the hair on his arms and the back of his neck to rise. 

Gravestones. 

At least two to three  _ dozen _ , maybe more, laid out in neat rows-with weeds running wild and even a few trees spread out amongst them...but no church to be seen. His goosebumps grew more pronounced and it was all he could do not to shiver in excitement at that realization.

In fact, there were no buildings anywhere to be seen, just empty landscape with the occasional tree, all covered in a ghostly haze. Dib  _ really  _ wanted to go down and check this place out!

“Centralia!” Kailah shouted proudly, and when Dib finally managed to tear his eyes away from the haunting scene below, he found a mischievous grin on the girl’s face.

“...What?” He asked again. 

“Is this where the Pod is?” Zim asked sharply.

“No,” Kailah said casually, then continued enthusiastically before Zim had a chance to argue. “Centralia is an abandoned coal mining town!” She explained as she motioned to the empty landscape below, almost vibrating with excitement. “About two decades ago, a trash fire accidently spread into the mining tunnels below the town. And the fire  _ still  _ burns to this very day! The smoke is sorta toxic, and it leaks out through cracks in the ground, so the people living here were all forced to move! And to prevent anyone from squatting in the abandoned houses-and succumbing to the fumes-the government tore the whole place down!” She sounded a little too gleeful about that. “It still attracts tourists from time to time, even though the local law enforcements have worked pretty hard on blocking off the surrounding streets...Oh! And fun fact!” She turned to Dib excitedly. “The video game,  _ Silent Hills,  _ was actually partially inspired by what the town looked like after it was abandoned-and, obviously,  _ before  _ it was torn down. Back when the smoke from the fire was a bit thicker-like a creepy eternal fog-and all the buildings sat empty!” She grinned with all her teeth.

Dib had to admit, he’d never heard of the place, but it sounded neat. Not exactly as paranormal as it looked though, which was a bit disappointing. And any possible ghost sightings would most likely be chalked up to side effects of the fumes-even if they were real. So, probably not worth exploring, since it was doubtful anyone would believe him if he found anything down there.  _ Shame _ . His shoulders sagged in disappointment. Part of him still wanted to check it out.

“If the Pod is not here.” Zim growled, antennae flat against his head. “Then why did you make Zim stop!”

“Well... _ technically _ I didn’t tell you to stop?” She gave him an amused look. When Zim bared his teeth and let out a low growl, she continued in a nonchalant tone with a casual wave of a hand, “I just think it’s a cool place with a neat history.” She gave a small shrug. “Plus, this means I know exactly where we are. We’re too far north. We need to head south for a bit.” She said confidently as she settled back down in the seat. After a moment she mumbled under her breath; “... _ possibly _ east still?...maybe back west?” She glanced down at her shoulder then gave another tiny shrug.

“What.” Zim demanded, pausing halfway to pressing a button to get them moving again as he glared at the girl.

Dib looked back out below them. Out of curiosity he switched his glasses to the Thermal setting. Unsurprisingly-but still fascinatingly-the ground below was glowing several degrees warmer than the surrounding area-definite evidence of a fire burning beneath!

“Alright, so, we’ve driven through Centralia a few times with my family.” Kailah admitted, though her tone suggested she was about to say something she knew Zim wouldn’t be happy to hear. “And while we’re familiar enough with it to recognize it from the air...we’re not  _ entirely  _ sure which roads we’re supposed to follow to get back to where we used to live. We know it’s south!” She said quickly, “There’s no question about that. Buuut…” She dragged out the word, her voice going a bit high with nervousness, “East or west is another matter?” She gave an apologetic and over exaggerated shrug.

Zim opened his mouth, looking like he was going to start yelling.

Kailah held both hands up in a surrender motion to try and placate the alien. Dib watched the orange and yellow image of Chomp-the-snake look out the windshield, their head swaying side to side slightly as if trying to devise which direction they had to go next.

“Look.” Kailah said before Zim could get started. “I’m sure if we just follow the main roads south, we’ll start to recognize more towns. We’ve been all over this part of Pennsylvania. Plus, my dad likes to play on Google maps-and he’s always showing the images to me. So I know what a lot of these towns look like from an aerial view.” She motioned out the window. “After all, Chomp and I were able to recognize  _ Centralia _ -and you can see for yourself how desolated it is down there. I’m more than confident that we can make our way to the Pod from here.” She glanced outside, towards the sun-which was about two and a half handwidths away from the horizon. “We just have to search for more familiar landmarks, that’s all.” She sounded a little less confident with that last sentence, like she was trying to convince herself, too.

Zim let out a soft growl. He muttered something alien under his breath as he started tapping away at the console. Then he gently pushed on the yoke with both claws to turn the ship towards the south. With a few more quick button presses, they started moving again.

The inside of the ship was silent as Zim flew. 

Kailah and Chomp looked out the windshield, looking for anything familiar. 

Dib switched his glasses back to Normal mode and took his seat again. He simply stared straight ahead and soon found himself thoughtfully focusing on the vision from his right eye.

It didn’t seem to be any worse than it usually was...though it did have that ‘dry and tired’ feeling that was akin to staring at a bright computer screen in a dark room for hours on end. So...he should probably stop using the Thermal setting, too then. He sighed, HD would definitely speed up any damage to his retinas, but if Thermal was starting to give him issues too; then he was going to have to do a bit of tweaking with the settings so he wasn’t so limited with it. 

Though, he was finding he preferred having only one functional lense for the Thermal setting; it allowed him a comparison view between the mixture of hot and cold colors, and what was actually in front of him. This way he could still make out details; like depth perception and facial expressions-instead of just a bunch of orange, yellow, red, white, and blue blobs. Plus, there was the added bonus that Thermal Imaging gave him a decent idea on what Chomp was doing without the constant strain on his eyes that the HD mode seemed to give. Maybe something he could do when he got home, would be to dull the colors in Thermal a bit-so they weren’t so bright-then give himself the ability to switch which eye had access to the Thermal Imaging at any given time? That way, he could keep it on for longer, by switching which eye was viewing it. Seeing as he’d already discovered that he needs both eyes for HD mode, but only one eye for Thermal, this could be a pretty good alternative to prevent further damaging his eyesight. Then again, he did much rather prefer HD mode, since it gave him a full detail look at the Loughran. Though, even Dib had to admit that Thermal was a much  _ safer  _ option for long term uses. Then again, for the HD mode, he could try…

As Dib let his thoughts wonder-one hand firmly on each knee again to keep his legs from bouncing, Kailah and Chomp kept their eyes glued to the racing ground far below. Silently arguing whether that road or the other was the one they used to take on the family road trips.

Zim kept glancing at the two Bondmates, waiting for any hint that would indicate if they were still traveling in the correct direction or not. He kept the Voot at a steady and slow pace-just under one hundred miles per hour-to be sure they didn’t miss anything. He pressed a button on the dashboard to bring up the engine's statuses. Still holding steady. Good.

He tapped a few more buttons to modify the cloaking settings to match the sky around them; as it seemed to  _ constantly  _ shift in color. He pressed another button to double check the shields were still engaged and functioning-in case of attack or another unexpected crash. With a few more clicks, Zim made sure both their speed and altitude remained steady.

After several minutes of silence, the Dib-beast suddenly shouted out in terror.

Zim tightened his grip on the yoke in reflex and yanked it towards port, preparing to go into evasive maneuvers. But when the radar didn’t show anything near them nor did any alarms sound, Zim glared hard at the boy and slowly brought the Voot back towards its original heading. A side port in his PAK slid open, one leg slipping out a few inches in case that  _ stupid  _ hyuman deciding to thow himself bodily at Zim again. 

The two pre-teens didn’t even seem affected by the sudden change of course. Kailah’s eyes darted around the cockpit as she felt her adrenaline spike. Was there another spider?! She had to catch it before Dib or Zim tried to kill it!

Dib suddenly leaned forward and buried his face in his hands with a groan, seemingly unaware of the other’s reactions to his sudden outburst. “Gaz is going to kill me.” He groaned.

“What!?” Zim and Kailah said in unison. The former angry, while the latter was much more confused and concerned.

Dib let his hands drop to his lap and leaned back in the chair, tilting his head back to stare up at the purple ceiling hopelessly.

“...Dib?” Kailah asked cautiously, confusion seeping into her voice and her brows furrowing deeply.

The port on Zim’s PAK silently slid closed once it became apparent that the Dib-beast wasn’t about to begin flailing about the ship again. Zim turned back towards the windshield, but kept an eye on the hyumans in his peripheral, just in case.

“Gaz.” Dib sighed, still watching the ceiling. “My sister. I totally left skool without telling her  _ anything _ ! If she doesn’t kill me for ditching her, she’s going to tell our Dad I missed a  _ whole  _ day of skool! I’ll probably be grounded for life!”

“Oh…” Kailah glanced at the invisible Chomp before looking back at Dib. He could see out of the corner of his eye the twisted look of her face-concern and confusion. “Well...I’m sure it’ll be alright?” She offered. “As long as we’re able to get home before dark...right?”

Dib shrugged. True, his Dad usually didn’t come home until eight or later-if he came home at all. Plus, they’d just had Family Dinner Night, so it was doubtful he’d come home at all…

But that still meant he’d have to deal with  _ Gaz _ . Dib sighed and pushed his glasses up his forehead, he then brought a fist up to his right eye and started rubbing it.

Kailah leaned forward slightly, looking past Dib to Zim. “We  _ will  _ be able to get back before dark, right?” Her voice was a bit more strained, uncertain. Trying to be hopeful with just a hint of desperation.

“Hmm.” Zim didn’t look at her as he reached forward to tap on the dashboard. A display of some sort popped up, but Dib couldn’t even begin to interpret what it meant. “Depends on if we find this ‘pod’ soon.” Zim said icely.

Kailah glanced at Chomp, then seemed to follow the Loughran’s gaze as she looked out towards the windshield. “We need to go southeast.” She said confidently.

Zim nudged the yoke and shifted course.

Dib pulled his glasses back down and pushed them into their usual place on his nose. Then he leaned forward to look outside. “How are you so sure?”

“As I said, my Dad’s always showing me aerial maps of places we visit.” She said cheerfully as she pointed to the town below. “See that there? That’s Pottsville; I have a Great-Aunt who lives there! So that means we’re probably a little over an hour from my old hou-”

“What’s so great about this  _ ‘ant’ _ ?” Zim scoffed.

Kailah tilted her head to the side as she looked at Zim, a bit of a ‘What are you even talking about!?’ look on her face. “Uh…’Great-Aunt’...like: my  _ Mom’s  _ aunt??” Dib almost huffed in amusement at the clear struggle on her face as she tried not to just roll her eyes at Zim. She tilted her head a little more so she could give Chomp a sideways and curious look. “Oh, yeah. You’re probably right.”

“What! What is that Loughran saying about  _ Zim  _ now!!” He spat.

Kailah sighed, then in a voice about two octaves lower than her own she said; “ **He probably doesn’t know what an aunt is, it could be a human only concept for all we know.** ” When Zim simply raised an eye ridge at her she continued in her normal voice. “Basically, an aunt is a term we use for certain blood relatives. It means they are the sister of-...Zim, do you know what a sister is?”

Dib actually  _ did  _ snort in amusement at the multitude of absolutely outraged noises Zim made in response. Though Dib also noticed that the alien didn’t exactly confirm nor deny his understanding of the term.

Kailah glanced at Dib with an amused look in her eyes, then she leaned further forward in the seat so she could talk around him. “Okay, so...” She started explaining the whole concept of a family tree to the alien-even going so far as to pull a scrap piece of paper out of her bag to draw a diagram on. She used herself as an example as she worked through the different definitions of ‘Mother’, ‘Father’, ‘Brother’, ‘Aunt’, et cetera, one by one, and in impressive, easy to understand thorough detail.

Zim looked annoyed the entire time. But even Dib had to admit that there was no doubt the alien was actually paying close attention to the different terms and relations, and how they all connected to each other. Zim even seemed to be trying to memorize them? Odd that he would find such… _ 'alien’  _ concepts so...interesting? It made Dib feel a little uneasy, though he wasn’t quite sure why.

After going over all the basics, Kailah kept going, almost seeming unable to stop herself as she continued explaining the more complicated aspects of a Family Tree. Finishing with Great-Grandparents and moving onto Second and Third Cousins. It was actually a little impressive how intricate the Trees could get. 

About half way through explaining the whole ‘cousin twice removed’ concept (which even Dib admitted was all new and interesting information to him-seeing that he didn’t know anything about his own family outside his Dad and sister-he never really bothered to learn those lesser known family terms), Kailah paused and turned to look out the window. 

Zim slowed the ship to a hover without any further prompting.

“Positive?” She breathed out under her breath. After a quick pause she nodded then turned back to Zim and Dib. “Alright. This is it. This is the forest that Chomp landed in.” She seemed...nervous about that. Hesitant. Her eyes suddenly filled with uncertainty and she bit her lower lip. It was hard for Dib to tell if those were truly her feelings, or simply Chomp’s slipping through.

“ _ Finally _ .” Zim scoffed as he reached forward with one claw to tap away at the dashboard, while steering the ship towards a clearing below to land with the other.

Dib noticed Kailah’s hands clenched into fists around the paper she had been using for the family tree. She seemed to feel his eyes on her-or perhaps Chomp told her Dib was watching-as she relaxed her grip, gave him a forced and unconvincing attempt at a reassuring smile, then bent down to put the paper and pencil back into her bag.

“Everything alright?” He asked in a low voice.

“Yeah,” She sighed, her face a passive neutral. One hand slid up to her shoulder, the thumb gently and subtly running along empty space just above the collar of her green hoodie. “We’re just...there’s just…” Her whole face twitched then returned to the passive neutral, but for a split second it looked like she had been about to cry. However, when she spoke again, her voice was as steady as it was when she had been explaining family trees to Zim and him. “We’re not sure how to feel right now. There’s a lot of conflicting emotions. What if we can’t get a hold of the others? What if we can? What if our worst fears are confirmed? What if they’re not?” She glanced at Zim and lowered her volume to just above a breath. “What if this triggers an invasion?”

Zim’s antennae twitched slightly but he gave no other indication that he was actually listening as he focused on landing the Voot smoothly.

Dib gave her a soft frown. He felt like there should be something he should do in a situation like this. Something to console her? Something that was socially called for in moments like these. But what? He tried to think of any movie or tv show that had something similar as a premise in their plot. What did they do to show their support, to show that everything was going to be okay...and if it wasn’t, they were at least here to help?

Dib felt his leg start to bounce again as his fingers twitched and dug into the fabric of his pants. Even if he could come up with the answer, it was probably too late now. The moment-whatever it had been-surely must have passed by now…it would just be super awkward if he attempted anything now, right? And the longer he waited, the longer it took him to figure out what exactly it was he was supposed to have done, the more awkward it would be if he tried to do anything now. So might as well just remain silent at this point...

“Will you STOP THAT!!” Zim slashed out at his leg, but thanks to the shout, Dib had just enough of a warning he was able to dodge the blur of sharp claws streaking past his knee. “Zim is TRYING to land! And that  _ cursed  _ bouncing is  _ distracting  _ me!”

Dib simply sighed in response as he lowered his leg back down, he then froze when he felt something land on his shoulder and give a slight squeeze. He glanced at the hand resting there, then his eyes trailed over to Kailah’s face. She was giving him a reassuring and sympathetic smile.

That.

That’s what he should have done to console her…

The Voot jostled for a moment as it touched down. The windshield then slid open with a soft hiss.

Before Dib could get the fuzziness of regret at the missed opportunity out of his brain, he, Kailah, and Chomp were all thrown bodily out of the ship. 

Zim climbed out casually after them. He then stood above the slightly groaning pile of flesh and shadow, hands on his hips and antennae leaning back with annoyance and impatience. “Well. Where is this  _ Pod _ .”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> RIP Centralia and it's famous Graffiti Highway, which was recently officially shut down for good. I used to drive through that town all the time when visiting my Grandparents, and I've also done like two separate school projects on it lol
> 
> Also, I've put way too much thought into these glasses than I really aught to...this is probably gonna come back and bite me in the butt lol  
> (You can really tell that this Author wears glasses though, right? *laughing sweat drop emoji*)


	15. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GUYS!! nikkilancaco on tumblr drew fanart of chapter 11!! <3!! It's really cool and I LOVE their interpretation of what Chomp looks like! Check it out! https://nikkilancaco.tumblr.com/post/618107719911686144/velociraptoraddict-velociraptoraddict  
> They also drew an absolutely adorable candid pick of Kailah and Chomp just chilling and listening to music, look how cute they are! https://nikkilancaco.tumblr.com/post/619061214521245696/ive-been-thinking-about-them-chillin-for-a-while
> 
> Man, I'm really getting more confident writing background details! Unfortunately, that means it takes me twice as long to write and about four times as long to edit, whoops lol ^_^;  
> Speaking of which, this chapter went through several major edits as I realized Dib was the narrator for the majority of the second half, yet he did /nothing/ except stand there and watch...so I added a whole lot of inner monologue that wasn't there before XD; (So if anything feels tacked on that's why. I tried my best to edit it all and smooth it out but after two weeks straight of rereading the same chapter I'm sure I've missed something)
> 
> All in all though, I'm pretty happy with how this chapter turned out! Enjoy X3

**Chapter 14**

_ You know what the biggest problem with coming back after six years is? _

“Plants grow?” Kailah offered in a slightly amused tone, as she pushed aside some leaf litter with her foot while tucking some hair behind her ear with a smile.

_ Plants grow!  _ Chomp agreed from about a football field away-hidden amongst the trees-there was mostly frustration behind the statement, but a hint of Kailah’s own amusement managed to slip through. They shoved their head under a bush in the continuing search for the Pod. Kailah couldn’t help but smile at their exasperated reaction as she bent to lift a fallen log.

After landing the Voot and gathering their bearings, the four of them had spread out to search the area for the Loughran’s landing site. Chomp remembered the Pod being left behind in a small clearing which consisted of several, very tall White, and Red Oaks-along with a smattering of small maple saplings. 

Unfortunately, none of that really helped, seeing that those were the more common types of trees that grew around here. Along with three different types of Pine-which all looked practically identical-and a species of Sycamore tree; whose paperlike bark peeled right off their trunk in large chunks at the slightest touch. And that wasn’t even mentioning the countless forms of undergrowth vegetation that made navigating the forest difficult, such as ferns, pricker bushes, poison ivy, poison oak, several species of thick shrub bushes, regular ivy, and blackberries.

And-as Chomp was currently complaining-after several years, the overall layout of the woods was obviously bound to shift and change into something almost unrecognizable. Especially when one remembered, that Chomp had only spent a small handful of months in these woods; Bonded with animals whose thoughts never grew more complex than instincts that roughly translated to ‘Must find food’ or ‘Rain coming soon’ (that is, when they weren’t actively trying to flee from, or flat out attack the Loughran). Being Bonded to creatures of such simple minds made it hard to form their own-more complex-thoughts; nevermind trying to attempt a conversation of any kind. 

So, Chomp quickly realized that they would have to find a more suitable Bondmate; if they ever hoped to be able to gather any useful information about this planet. Which had the unintentional side effect of not really trying to commit the forest’s layout to memory before leaving it.

Thankfully though, Chomp  _ had  _ remembered a small creek overrun with smooth, gray pebbles not too far from the landing sight. It was too shallow for fish to call home, but plenty of spring peepers seemed to happily live in the area-as the Loughran remembered being able to see and hear them constantly during the evenings and very early mornings. 

Too bad it was now mid October, so, the clue about frogs wasn’t really going to help them out all that much. But they  _ had  _ managed to find a few creeks, so...that was something.

The group found three creeks to be exact; all within a quarter mile of each other. The creeks joined together into a small brook, that eventually fed into a slow moving river. Which wound its way lazily through the campsites of French Creek Park, before eventually pouring into the nearby lake. Chomp couldn’t quite remember which branch of the creek was closest to the Pod, but they  _ knew  _ that the brook was too far southeast, and the Pod was a  _ little  _ less than a mile upriver from where the brook formed. 

So, that gave them all a pretty good starting point for a search grid.

Kailah and Dib started their search along the opposite banks of Creek Number One, slowly spreading out as they made their way through the forest. Chomp searched along Creek Number Two, zigzagging from tree to tree with quick, anxious steps as they repeatedly poked their head through the undergrowth. And that left Zim, begrudgingly making his way around the forest on the other side of Creek Number Three. 

Dib was pretty thorough in his search of the area; he was so happy and excited to finally have an opportunity to actually use all his experience-and research about-searching for the paranormal! He turned over every fallen branch, log, and rock. He pushed aside leaves until only the topsoil remained. He didn’t want to risk overlooking even the smallest clue!

Unfortunately, it had taken him about three whole minutes of searching to realize: he had  _ absolutely  _ no idea how big this Pod even was?...or what it even  _ looked  _ like!? And the longer he debated on going to try and find Kailah so he could ask, the more time passed, and the more time passed, the more he felt like it was too  _ late  _ to ask! 

As he continued to search, he found himself going around and around in a vicious, anxious circle of  _ ‘I could go ask her now...but if I ask now, it would probably be awkward and weird cause we’ve already been searching for five minutes.  _

_ But I have no clue what I’m even looking for! But then, so much time has already passed! It would be sooo awkward to go ask what it looks like  _ now _ , wouldn’t it? _

_...I should go ask now...No! It’s already been ten minutes! _

_...Should I go ask now? No, it’s already been fifteen minutes!’ _

Et cetera, Et cetera. Around and around for the past forty minutes of searching. It was giving him a headache.

He had a gut feeling that it was  _ probably  _ small and unsuspecting...why else would it have been left behind and undisturbed after all this time? Especially so close to a seemingly popular campsite? He found himself thinking that he  _ probably  _ should have asked if it was cloaked or something...but again, it was probably  _ way  _ too late to be asking such  _ stupid  _ questions!

Why hadn’t Kailah been more clear about it before they split up?! All she had to do was give a quick description of the thing, but she seemed too focused on  _ where  _ it could possibly be, and not  _ what  _ the blasted thing actually looked like! It was so frustrating!

But then again, Zim didn’t seem to have any issues with knowing what it was that they were looking for. The Alien had gone off into his section of the woods without so much as a hint of hesitation. So...it was probably just Dib who was the idiot here…?

He sighed as he lifted a low hanging branch to duck underneath. No, it would make sense that Zim would know what they were looking for, he was an alien, too, after all…Kailah probably just forgot that she hadn’t told Dib...or thought that she had when she was info dumping everything else about Chomp yesterday?

***

It was true, Kailah knew what the Pod looked like-thanks to Chomp’s memories- _ and  _ thanks to her mild concussion, she had been a  _ bit  _ too scatterbrained to realize that she  _ probably  _ should have explained its appearance to Dib-and Zim- _ before  _ they had all split up?

But, seeing as neither of them had asked about it before-or after-they all split up and started searching, she just simply assumed they already knew. She had probably told Dib at some point-like yesterday, when she was telling him the truth about her Bondmate? Or perhaps she had said something at some point on the way out here while she was still delirious? 

Between the almost dying and the concussion, she couldn’t exactly be one hundred percent sure  _ what  _ she’s said so far today...

Though, that could explain how both of them knew what they were looking for...? 

So, under the assumption that she’d simply forgotten that she’d already told them-thanks to her muddled and tired mind-Kailah continued searching her area of the woods, blissfully concluding that the boys already knew exactly what it was that they were looking for. It was easier than going to try and find Dib to double check with him. She definitely had no plans to check with Zim; he’d been nothing but a jerk to her and Chomp since they'd met, so he could search the woods blindly for all she cared.

The concussion was probably also why she wasn’t nearly as thorough in her own searching for the Pod as the others most likely were. She was constantly-and very easily-being distracted. Every time she turned over a log, or stone, and happened to expose a snake, salamander, spider, earthworm, or other such critter; she ended up spending the next minute or so completely distracted as she fawned over it. Chomp had to keep reminding her why they were there in the woods in the first place. 

Though the Loughran wouldn’t admit it, they were secretly glad for the small, constant distractions that helped take their mind off their own anxieties. Kailah’s happy thoughts helped calm them so they could be more thorough in their own searching. 

Unfortunately, the deadline of sunset was still there, ever present in the background. There was only so much time left before they all had to go back home; and that time constraint didn’t exactly help the gut wrenching anxiety Chomp felt whenever they thought about needing to find the Pod as soon as possible. 

In fact, if anything, it only made it worse.

***

Zim probably had the largest advantage for finding the thing between the four of them; with his  _ superior  _ Irken eyesight, and  _ amazing  _ Irken technology, he was able to do a very fast and thorough sweep of his quadrant. 

Plus, he completely lacked  _ any  _ minor brain damage-or any minor/major anxieties to distract him, really. 

_HA! Stupid inferior natives!_ _Zim is obviously the superior being!_

He used his PAK legs to dangle from the branches overhead as he searched. This way he didn’t have to worry about picking his way slowly between the  _ disgusting  _ bug infested trees, or around the absolutely  _ vile  _ pricker bushes that liked to snag at the sleeves of his uniform and attempt to put holes in the pristine fabric!

_ Insolent  _ **_inferior_ ** _ flirking life forms dare to attack ZIM!? I am  _ smarter  _ than mere  _ **_plants_ ** _! I AM ZIM! _

He glared down at the leaves and branches below as they waved cheerfully in the light breeze. They would definitely be the first thing to go once he finished taking over this planet. Right after the hyumans themselves, of course.

Zim then held his tablet out in front of him to scan the ground below, searching for any hints of foriegn signatures; such as any un-Urthly radio frequency, or metals not native or common to this area, or planet. He swept the tablet back and forth in neat, wide arches-like a treasure hunter at the beach with their trusty metal detector-as he slowly moved through the trees overhead.

***

Chomp stalked along the shores of their creek, bright amber eyes sweeping around the woods in anxious arches with every step; their feathers half bristled with the nervous energy they felt deep in their core. They paused when an odd sensation suddenly swept over them-something akin to nostalgia? Deja vu? Vague memories of those first few months began to return to them as they stood there silently in the woods next to the creek. 

Something clicked in their mind, as-almost without warning, everything seemed... _ very _ familiar. 

They must be close. 

A chittering above caught their attention. They tilted their head back just in time to see a squirrel darting along the branches overhead, its cheeks overstuffed with acorns. It disappeared like a flash, into a hollow of a tree on the left several feet above. 

Their first Bondmate had been a squirrel... _ I wonder if she’s still here, somewhere?  _ Their head slowly swiveled around like an owl’s, as they took in the early autumn trees all around them-as if expecting their first Bondmate to suddenly materialize.

_ Doubtful.  _ Kailah responded casually, as she gently returned a sleepy garter snake she’d been playing with to their underground burrow.  _ Don’t they only live like, four or five years? _

_ Do they?  _ Chomp turned their head in her direction-though they could no longer see her, they always knew where she was. They tilted their head curiously. _ I thought they were closer to ten?  _ They turned their head again to look curiously up at the dark entrance of the hollow for a moment longer as they pondered it. 

When there was no sign of movement, the Loughran began to move on with their search.

“I can double check when we get home,” Kailah offered under her breath as she started walking along her own search path again. She ducked under some branches and slowly moved further away from her Bondmate as she made her way deeper into the woods. “You might be right, though.” 

Chomp let out a thoughtful, mental hum; knowing it wasn’t really important enough to bother remembering for later. She was probably right though, the squirrel had most likely moved on...one way or the other. 

They then gave her a friendly mental nudge, placing a memory into her head as a reminder not to wander too far away from them. They didn’t want her to begin losing focus or consciousness like she had when they had left in search of food and water during the last pit stop.

Kailah gave a single, sharp nod in response. Acknowledging that she didn’t plan to go too far, as she sent back a mental image of a small fern patch nestled in a clearing between some oaks and maples just up ahead. She had spotted it off to the side from her current search path, only about seven feet or so away. 

She paused on the outskirts of the green puddle of plants and thoughtfully began to poke through the ferns with her foot. 

Nothing. 

She turned and continued her searching parallel to Chomp’s. The Loughran subconsciously moved their own search path slightly closer to her’s-just to close the gap she had made-as their mind began to slip back into the past as they walked.

They doubted any of the rabbits, fox, or badger were still around here anymore either...and Chomp wasn’t really sure they wanted to run into any of them again anyway. Not that any of their former Bondmates would be able to  _ see  _ them anymore-now that the Bonds were long since severed. But still, Chomp had a feeling they’d probably feel awkward seeing any of their past Bondmates, even from a distance. 

As they continued walking along a narrow game trail, their mind eventually wandered to the crow that they were Bonded with just before they met Kailah. They actually wouldn’t mind seeing him again...

“What, you don’t like me anymore?” Kailah teased, pausing in her search to face towards Chomp, her hands on her hips with an eyebrow and one corner of her mouth both raised playfully. Even if she couldn’t see them through the forest, she felt less awkward talking out loud if she was directing it in their direction.

_ I never said that. You know I love you and would never leave you.  _ Came the almost automatic response.

_ I know.  _ A sad, soft smile played on her lips as she let her hands drop back down to her sides and started to resume her searching. She tried to block it, but a small thought of doubt still managed to slip through. Chomp caught it and sensed a hint of more negative thoughts hidden just below the surface.

_ Kay.  _ They thought gently, pausing and turning their head in her direction.  _ I really am sorry. I...I wasn’t thinking clearly. I never should have...I never meant to- _

“I know.” She interrupted. _It’s okay...I already forgave you._ Yet there was still that hint of sorrow and loneliness behind the words. 

Chomp started weaving their way through the trees and undergrowth towards her, guilt starting to grip their chest again.

“It’s okay.” She whispered, though it was hard to tell which one of them she was trying to convince of that.  _ You just got freaked out, and panicked… _ ”you didn’t mean to leave me, you just... wanted- _ needed _ , to get some answers. I understand…” _ It’s okay. _

_ Then why do you feel/sound so sad...?  _ They nudged their way between two shrubs and circled around to approach her from behind. They silently inched closer and gently slipped their head onto her left shoulder.

Without having to think about it, Kailah tilted her head to rest on top of theirs. She closed her eyes as she accepted the comfort that came with the gesture. “...Just because I understand, and forgive…” She whispered, her eyes opening a little to stare unfocused on the trees in front her. “doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt...”  _ Doesn’t still hurt. _ “Just a little.” 

There was a small pause in the conversation as the two of them started walking down the narrow game trail; their steps in perfect sync as their heads remained resting against each other. 

“You...you ran off. You couldn’t have even waited till class was over? Or-”  _ I don’t know _ “-waited for me to process what was  _ even going on  _ before you just... _ ran _ off?” Her right hand made a fluttering gesture to emphasize her point as her throat started to get an uncomfortable tight feeling.

_ I’m sorry.  _ They meant it. She knew they meant it. They knew she knew they meant it. Chomp sincerely and full heartedly regretted what they did yesterday. They truly regretted running off without thinking, letting their emotions take over. Leaving her behind. Not coming back the  _ second  _ their panic subsided. Almost causing her death because they kept running further and further away. Not realizing how much they’d hurt her feelings, how much they harmed her. Not realizing that they were  _ literally  _ killing her until it was almost too late. They regretted all of it. And she knew how they felt.

But still, the hurt feelings seemed to linger.

“Just promise me, you wont do anything that stupid again. Okay?...Please?” She pressed her cheek against their muzzle just a little bit more.

_ Pinkie Promise.  _ They hooked a soft wing claw around her left pinkie and felt the warm, soft love she felt in response to the contact spread through the Bond as they nuzzled her cheek.

Kailah smiled slightly at the reference as she reached her free hand up and rubbed her thumb against the tip of their snout. Her Bondmate closed their eyes contently in response to the touch. 

They then silently began to search her mind as her thumb continued to rub between their nostrils; her cheek still pressed against theirs. 

Her headache had long since retreated back to the dull ache of a mild concussion-it would most likely take a day or so more to fully vanish. The spider bites on her left hand itched like crazy-their own palm twitched and itched in response as their mind brushed up against that part of her mind. Thankfully though, the swelling had already gone down to an almost unnoticeable level. Kailah had been right after all, it was only a harmless house spider.

Chomp was glad and relieved as they pulled their mind away to find that, physically, she was healing quickly and smoothly. And emotionally, she was already starting to feel better too. Just having them close seemed to help her calm down and forget about the issues of the past two days. And vice versa; Chomp felt much more at peace as they walked in sync through the early autumn woods, their worries slowly fading away.

“Hey!” A voice called off to their left, sounding like it was only a dozen and a half yards away. “Is this it?! I think I found it!”

_ That sounded like Dib.  _ Chomp paused before pulling away and standing to their full height, looking towards where the shout had come from, fully alert.

“Want to go check it out?” Kailah slowed to a stop as she half turned towards the sound.

_ We can go together.  _ They lowered their head back to her eye level and gave her a small smile.

Kailah gave a soft smile in return and reached up to run her hand along their leathery snout to where the feather started. She gave the spot a gentle scratch as she looked into those large amber eyes. They leaned forward and pressed their snout to her forehead, fully opening the Bond for all emotions and thoughts to flow freely between them.

They stood like that for a long moment, the two of them finally feeling at peace as all negative emotions between them gradually vanished. 

Then the two Bondmates slowly and silently split from the physical contact. They turned towards Dib’s voice, and began to make their way through the woods. 

Chomp just a half step behind Kailah.

***

Dib would have missed it, if he hadn’t been actively looking for it for the past  _ forty  _ some minutes. He could now understand why the Pod hadn’t been discovered after all this time-even with it being so close to what was obviously a pretty popular camping site. It was even smaller than he had been expecting-probably about the size of a basketball, maybe a smidge smaller. He was pretty sure it wasn’t cloaked-since he could plainly see it-but he suspected that it had  _ some  _ kind of disguise activated. It’s hull was a dull, muted gray that almost seemed to match a lot of the larger rocks around here. It certainly didn’t have that reflective, metallic look he would have expected from an alien spacecraft. 

Then again...Zim’s ship didn’t exactly have that stainless steel look typical of UFO sightings either...

Dib would have to do a  _ lot  _ more research on UFOs when he got a chance. He also wanted to look up that odd symbol on the side of Zim’s ship-the one that looked like a grinning, triangular face. He wanted to see if there was any record of  _ that  _ floating around somewhere on the internet. Maybe that could give him some clue on what Zim was up to? Dib still had an odd gut feeling about Zim. He couldn’t tell if the alien was just here on Earth cause he liked the place, was a refugee of some kind, or for something more  _ nefarious _ . Either way, Dib couldn’t help this suspicious feeling.

He had already learned that Chomp was sent here as a scout for an invasion that never happened, mostly thanks to the rest of their race being wiped out shortly after they were sent away. 

Not exactly a peaceful reason to be here. But they obviously haven’t done anything to jeopardize the planet’s safety since arriving, right? 

And even Kailah seemed surprised by the reveal of their true reason for being on Earth-as well as their recent behavior; running away from her, becoming violent and starting fights. 

So, this was all new to her. And seemed to be triggered by Zim’s arrival?

And even if Zim hasn’t really done anything yet that  _ could  _ be considered ‘ _ evil _ ’; Dib still couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something just a  _ little  _ untrustworthy about that green alien. He seemed to be hiding something big... 

But, seeing that any and all fighting so far had been in self defense against Chomp...plus, Zim had agreed to help Dib save Kailah-even if it was a bit reluctantly at first. The green alien hadn’t really done anything outright to be considered untrustworthy, yet Dib’s gut still warned him against Zim.

There were a lot of mixed signals. From both aliens.

Could either of them be trusted? Chomp’s proven to be able to hide secrets from Kailah for years, and Zim...well, Zim was just too much of an unknown. Who knows what he was up to? Why was he here, why was he in skool pretending to be a normal twelve year old kid?

_ Later, Dib, later. Gotta focus on this first. _

Dib shook the thoughts away before he called out to the others that he may have found the Pod. He then knelt down to give the Pod a closer look as he waited for the others to arrive. 

It was a bit more of an oblong shape than he would have expected, lacking any sort of seams to tell where it was supposed to open. No windows of any kind, and-besides the plant life currently growing on it-it appeared flawless without a single scratch or mark on its surface. 

It almost reminded him of the Flying Cigar subcategory of UFOs he’s read about, smooth and uniform all the way around. 

A small part of him briefly wondered if there was a report of this ship hidden somewhere in the deep web...

Actually, probably not. With how small it was, it was very unlikely anyone would have seen it flying through the sky. And if they did, it was much more likely to be mistaken for a shooting star than a UFO. 

Dib let out a small, disappointed sigh before focusing back on the Pod.

It was just sitting out here in the open for anyone to stumble across. Well, maybe  _ ‘open’  _ was the wrong word; it  _ was  _ in the middle of the woods after all. But it wasn’t exactly  _ hidden _ ...then again, with it’s dull, rocklike hull, it did appear pretty unassuming…

But seriously! How had no one else stumbled across this thing yet?! It’s just  _ sitting  _ here, unguarded!  _ Proof  _ of  _ alien  _ life just  _ waiting  _ to be  _ discovered _ ! RIGHT NEXT TO A CAMPING SITE!

“Okay, brain.” Dib muttered, “Knock it off, we can be mad about this later.”

Dib reached out tentatively and gave the object a firm knock. He felt a lot more confident in his discovery when-instead of a solid rocklike texture and sound-it felt smooth and cool with a hollow metallic sound ringing against his knuckles.

Satisfied, Dib sat back on his haunches and examined the Pod with his eyes as he continued to wait for the others to arrive. He wrapped his arms around his knee and drummed a mindless beat with his fingers against his forearms as he let his mind wonder. 

After several years of just sitting out here and being exposed to the elements, it certainly seemed to have become one with the landscape. The Pod was covered in lichen, moss, and even a few vines of poison ivy-something that Dib was  _ very  _ careful to avoid touching. He didn’t think he was allergic to it or anything, but he certainly didn’t want to risk it. 

He had to admit though-even if it was a little reluctantly-that it  _ did  _ look pretty unassuming-all things considered. Just sitting out here in the woods surrounded by nature. And the longer Dib stared at it, the easier it was to understand why the Loughran had simply left it behind. 

Most people wouldn’t come this far into the woods. Most people wouldn’t pay that much attention to a large, smooth rock even if they did. Most people didn’t believe in the paranormal stuff enough to even  _ recognize  _ what they were looking at-even if it slapped them across the face while screaming all its secrets to them. 

Most people preferred to live in ignorance.

He let out a soft sigh as he forced his fingers to loosen their sudden grip on his arms. He slowly started drumming them again as he tried not to think of how his Dad and sister never took him seriously about this stuff.

Zim was the first one to arrive in response to Dib’s call. The alien seemed to appear out of nowhere, quietly dropping to the ground from above with a surprising amount of grace. If it wasn’t for the crunching of leaves as he landed, Dib wouldn’t have even noticed his arrival. Dib sat up, alert, as the sound reached his ears. He looked over his shoulder to see Zim casually standing a few feet away. 

Zim didn’t even acknowledge Dib’s presence as he pointed an odd looking, gray/purple tablet towards the Pod-his antennae twitched forward curiously. Dib watched as Zim tilted the tablet back towards himself and started looking over the readings on the device; his antennae now up and alert with intrigue as he drug a single claw over the screen. 

Dib stood up and tried to casually sidle up next to Zim in the hopes of glancing over his shoulder to see what the tablet was displaying. Unfortunately, Zim seemed to either hear or sense Dib’s approach, as his antenna twitched before he turned to hiss a warning at Dib. While also quickly hugging the screen to his chest to hide it from view. 

Dib opened his mouth to argue, but the sound of rustling leaves interrupted him, and they both turned as Kailah emerged from the woods behind them. She pushed aside a low hanging tree branch and held it-Dib assumed-for Chomp.

“You found it?” Kailah asked as she tucked some hair behind her ear with her free hand. Her voice was a mix of distress and worry as anxiety slowly spread over her features. She glanced nervously between Dib and Zim, seemingly unable to move any closer as she just continued to hold the branch off to the side with one hand.

“I think so.” Dib said, side stepping a bit to avoid blocking her view as he motioned towards the object. “I thought it was an oddly large, smooth stone at first. Like something from one of the cricks? But when I tapped it with my foot, it made a very obvious hollow, metallic sound.” He’d demonstrate it now, but he was still hoping to spy what was on Zim’s alien tablet, so he didn’t want to get too far away from him. “Also, despite its appearance, it feels nothing like a rock, so...” He shrugged.

Kailah remained where she was, just looking towards the oblong Pod with that hint of anxiety as she whispered, “What do you think?” under her breath. As she waited for the response, she slowly released the branch and brought it back to its rightful place; her eyes glued to the Pod all the while. An odd mix of uneasy fear and anticipation on her face.

Dib heard and saw the crunching of leaf litter as Chomp walked away from Kailah and towards the Pod. He almost shivered with excitement at the eeriness of seeing actual evidence of an invisible thing moving through the forest. So cool!

Dib then glanced towards Zim, noting that the green alien was glancing between his tablet, the Pod, and an empty spot just in front of the Pod. Where, Dib guessed, Chomp must have stopped. 

When Dib tried to subtly lean closer again to get a look at the tablet, Zim quickly tilted it away while rapidly sidestepping and glaring at him.

Dib exhaled, admitting defeat. He stood there, slightly slouched with his thumbs hooked into his pants pockets as he started to chew the inside of his cheek. He started seriously debating if he could risk using HD mode again at this point. His right eye still had that ‘dry and tired feeling’, but there hadn’t been any noticeable drop in focus or clarity-so far. And he would much _ much _ rather use HD mode than Thermal right now,  _ especially  _ if he hoped to try and interpret any facial expressions Chomp might make as they learned the secrets of the Pod.

His fingers twitched at his side in anticipation, as he continued chewing at the inside of his cheek.

“Well!” Zim demanded loudly, (making Dib jump and painfully bite down on his cheek, as Zim practically yelled in his ear). “What is it saying?! Answer Zim or I’ll take your pinky!” He glared hard at the girl, holding the tablet close to his chest again as Dib glared at him.

Dib gently ran his tongue over his cheek with a slight, twisted frown as he tried to ignore the pain and taste of copper that came with the motion-thankfully, it wasn’t bleeding that bad.

“ **Yes.** ” Kailah said in that lower pitched voice she used to indicate she was translating for Chomp-it really brought up a couple of questions in Dib’s mind; what exactly did Chomp  _ sound  _ like? How exactly did mental communication work? Was it all words, or-? “ **This is my Pod. It’s...smaller than I remember...or maybe I’ve grown?** ” Her eyes darted away from Zim and towards Chomp as she switched to her normal speaking voice.

“Oh, you’ve definitely grown!” She said with a friendly and almost teasing grin. Though it didn’t quite meet her eyes-which still had that sorrowful and anxious look. And it made Dib briefly wonder whose emotions those actually were.

When he glanced towards Zim, he saw the briefest glint of...triumph? It disappeared so quickly though, he couldn’t quite be sure what he saw. Dib’s eyebrows furrowed softly as he tried to mull that over, causing his glasses to slip down his nose. He reached up to adjust them, closing his left eye as he did.

Dib jolted, startled at the sudden change in color and clarity of the world around him-as well as the appearance of a brown and black feathered dinosaur now squatting near the Pod.  _ Apparently  _ he just switched his glasses to HD mode without even meaning to?!

_ Or...at least I didn’t consciously mean to? _ He thought as he realized he had a finger hovering over the button.

Still, he  _ knew  _ Chomp was there, he  _ knew  _ what Chomp typically looked like, and yet...even after the initial shock of the Loughran’s sudden appearance waned...Dib was  _ still  _ caught off guard by just how  _ real  _ they looked! Sure, they still had that slightly opaque look, but that didn’t change the fact that they looked nothing like a movie puppet or some CGI creation. 

Chomp really did look like a real, living, breathing  _ dinosaur _ . 

It was honestly so  _ bizarre _ . Dib wasn’t really sure if he’d ever get used to looking at them.

“Oh, wow.” He breathed as he saw that the Pod looked completely different now that the HD mode was activated. It still had that muted, gray rock look; but now there were  _ dozens  _ of different shades of soft purples, bright pinks, and baby blues all mixed in with the gray. And it seemed to sparkle and shimmer, like a miniature galaxy of stars in the late afternoon sun. 

It was...marvelous. Breathtaking even. It was like a tiny piece of space had fallen to Earth.

Chomp tilted their head slightly, looking over their shoulder at Dib with one large, bright eye for a brief moment. He saw a hint of curiosity in the amber eye before it flickered to amusement, then back to that sorrowful unease that he’d seen in Kailah’s eyes since they’d arrived at the clearing. 

Chomp turned their gaze towards Kailah.

“I know it’s not ideal.” She said sympathetically. “But at this point, it would be rude not to...don’t you think?”

“What!” Zim snapped.

Kailah sighed; and Dib could tell it was all she could do not to roll her eyes before she explained; “They want to try and reach out to the rest of their kind, but they feel awkward doing so with an audience. And  _ I  _ said: it would be rude-after everything we’ve been through today-not to privy you guys to some answers as well.”

Zim’s antennae twiched in what Dib could best translate as a ‘I do not understand and I’m irritated by that’ kinda way, as he let out a soft scoff. His purple contacted eyes squinted at Kailah for a moment as his antennae stilled and leaned back to what Dib was positive was an annoyed position. Zim then glanced down at his tablet, seeming to read something on it. After a small pause, he looked over to Chomp, his antennae twitching forward slightly, showing interest.

Dib was actually impressed with himself by how easy it was for him to read Zim’s body language. Or rather; Zim’s  _ antennae  _ language. Part of him had thought that, perhaps, it had been a fluke earlier-when he was watching Zim examine the trees the Voot had been stuck between-but now, Dib was pretty confident he was  _ actually  _ able to interpret their movements that easily.

Or maybe Zim was just that easy to read? He didn’t exactly seem like the kind to try and hide his emotions at least? Dib gave a mental shrug and followed Zim’s gaze over to the Loughran.

Chomp still sat there, staring forlornly at the Pod but not making any move to try and activate it. 

Their elongated, reptilian face-on the other hand-was pretty impossible to read in comparison to Zim’s humanoid one. Their lips only seemed to move when they wanted them to-such as when they bared their teeth or purposefully smiled-otherwise they were still and emotionless. Their nostrils didn’t so much as twitch as they breathed. The only thing that held any sort of unguarded emotion was their eyes. And Dib could see so many  _ different  _ emotions swirling around in those bright, amber orbs that it was sometimes hard to actually decipher any of them confidently-especially since the Loughran didn’t have any eyebrows to assist with the interpretations. 

He was pretty sure sorrow, guilt, regret, and grief were the loudest, though. He could also pick out fear and anxiety hidden somewhere beneath the surface.

“It’s okay.” Kailah said softly, a lot of complex emotions hiding beneath the soothing tone. Which just brought up the same question from before: which emotions belonged to whom? Even if Dib could decipher all the different emotions accurately, he couldn’t exactly pinpoint  _ who  _ they were coming from...

_ Yeah, Zim is a  _ lot  _ easier to read.  _ Dib silently confirmed.

“ **What if they don’t answer?** ” Kailah said sadly, barely above a whisper. Dib watched as her face almost seemed to spasm between sympathy and grief, as if it wasn’t sure which feeling it should be displaying.

“...I...I don’t know. They probably won’t.” She said slowly, carefully. Then added quickly as she took a step forward. “But that doesn’t mean you’re alone. It could just mean...that, they don’t have access to this radio frequency? Or, whatever, anymore or...something?” She trailed off.

“ **What if they do?** ” Dib could see so much pain in Chomp’s eyes as Kailah spoke the words with slumped shoulders. The Loughran’s gaze never left the Pod, as if simply staring at it would give them all the answers they sought without having to go through the pain of actually asking.

“Ugh!” Zim interrupted. “No one is going to answer you, you  _ stupid  _ parasite!” Chomp snapped their head towards Zim, baring their teeth with a look of absolute hatred in their eyes. Zim simply continued, unphased. “Zim  _ told  _ you! The rest of the Loughran are dead!”

Chomp was suddenly on their feet, feathers bristling and teeth bared in a silent snarl as they whirled to face Zim. “ **You take that back.** ” Kailah translated. Though, Dib had a feeling her subdued and tired tone wasn’t a faithful match for the one Chomp was most likely using.

Zim scoffed and crossed his arms, the tablet hanging loose and forgotten in one gloved claw. He tilted his chin up defiantly towards the Loughran with his eyes narrowing to slits. “Zim will take nothing back. I am no  _ liar _ .”

Dib casually took a few steps away from Zim.

Chomp took a threatening step forward and suddenly Kailah was standing between them, her hands on her hips as she faced her Bondmate. “ _ Look _ . I get it. Trust me, I do. But.  _ Seriously _ ? Chomp. Come on.”

There was a tense pause as the two of them locked eyes and just stood there. Then they both took a slow, deep breath in together. Dib raised a curious eyebrow-while trying to keep his left eye closed-as he realized that they weren’t just taking a calming breath, then letting it out in  _ unison _ ...it was in  _ absolute  _ perfect sync!? It was, almost  _ chilling  _ how perfectly matched they were, actually. Dib made a mental note to ask about that later as he pushed his glasses back up his nose. 

Kailah’s stance remained, unwavering and unblinking; refusing to back down. While Chomp visibly-and literally-deflated when they finished releasing the breath. Their whole posture relaxed as their feathers smoothed down.

Chomp slowly turned back towards the Pod, only managing to take a couple steps before hesitating.

Kailah slowly let her arms fall back to her side as she watched them with a slightly concerned, and sympathetic look appearing on her face.

Zim had been oddly quiet and unmoving; his arms still crossed with his head tilted back ever so slightly. He seemed to be watching the Loughran and Kailah closely. Judging by the look on his face, and the irritated tilt of his antennae; he almost seemed  _ offended  _ that Kailah had prevented another fight from breaking out?

“Well?” Zim broke the silence as it became clear Chomp wasn’t getting any closer to the Pod. “What is taking so long?! Open the flirking thing so we can get going.”

“They,” Kailah hesitated, suddenly looking unsure with a hint of panic. Dib guessed that the latter was mostly coming from the Loughran. Chomp glanced at her and Zim over their shoulder, then their gaze shifted to Dib for a heartbeat before returning to the Pod. “They can’t-...remember...how??” Kailah admitted haltingly, her voice high with nerves, as if afraid of Zim’s reaction. She reached up to rub at her cheek with the heel of her hand as she gave an over exaggerated helpless and apologetic shrug.

Zim looked utterly dumbfounded, his arms dropping instantly to his side as his eyes grew wide and antennae drooped. “... _ What _ .”

Kailah’s mouth formed a tight, thin line-something akin to an apologetic smile a retail worker might give when they didn’t know the answer to a question, nor cared enough to try to find it. She then lowered her hand back to her side and her expression fell to that of pure, mental exhaustion as she looked back to Chomp and exhaled softly through her nose.

“What!” Zim snapped, his whole body stiffening as his antennae leaned straight back; anger and annoyance.

Dib watched as Kailah and Chomp exchanged looks, he tried-and failed-to interpret what was possibly being said between them. There were just too many emotions quickly shifting and swirling that seemed to both match and conflict at the same time. As soon as Dib thought he was able to pick any  _ one  _ out, it was replaced with another that disappeared just as quickly. 

Kailah shifted uneasily on her feet-gave a tiny, half shrug-then one corner of her lip twitched down into a small frown. Chomp tilted their head thoughtfully, staring at her for a long moment with worried eyes before glancing between Dib and Zim uncertainly. Kailah chewed on her bottom lip, as if debating something. Chomp looked back at the Pod, an odd look of concentration in their eyes.

“STOP! Flirking!  _ Ignoring  _ ZIM!” Zim suddenly dropped the tablet he’d been holding and lunged forward to snatch Kailah’s wrist in an iron grip. He twisted it as he brought it up to his eye level in one swift, painful looking motion. In the same instant, a PAK leg shot out and jabbed into the side of Kailah’s hand-right where the pinkie met the palm. “TRANSLATE.  _ NOW _ .” His fake purple eyes narrowed to dangerous slits as he bared his weird alien teeth. Then he whispered menacingly, “Or else.”

Dib felt his blood run cold and drain from his face. He was frozen. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t  _ risk  _ moving. Who knew what the alien would do if he so much as budged! What was he supposed to do!? What  _ could  _ he do?!

_ Why, oh  _ why  _ did I think it was a good idea to tell this monster that breaking a pinkie promise meant losing a finger!!? _ He suddenly felt really nauseous-absolutely  _ sick  _ to his stomach-like the whole world was spinning dizzyingly around him.Though, he couldn’t tell if that was simply from the situation,  _ or  _ from the fact that both his eyes had opened wide with shock and he was still using HD mode with his broken glasses. It was probably a little of both. He tried to swallow the bile rising in his throat.

Kailah blanched as her eyes went wide with fear. Her whole body stiffened as she seemed to forget how to even breathe. Even Chomp seemed completely caught off guard by the sudden hostility; their feathers half bristling as they stared with wide eyes at Zim. They seemed to be holding their own breath as they stood frozen in place, shaking slightly from both fear and rage. Their eyes locked on to the PAK leg.

Kailah struggled to swallow her fear, struggled to breathe, struggled to think. Then her mouth slowly opened and closed repeatedly for a moment, but no sound came out. 

The tip of Zim’s PAK leg started to glow a bright, blue-white; hot against her skin.

“Chompwassenthereasanewborn!” She suddenly shouted all at once, her voice high with fear as she frantically tried to pull her hand away-it didn’t even budge in Zim’s grip. 

“Eh?” Zim tilted his head in confusion, one antenna pointing straight up as the other pressed firmly against his skull. The corresponding eyes seemed to mimic them in the same motion-one wide, one squinted. The anger seemed suddenly and completely gone from his face. 

It would have been comical, if there wasn’t also something about the way he was still firmly-and effortlessly-holding Kailah’s wrist in his claws with the PAK leg-still glowing brightly-pressed against her hand that absolutely screamed:  _ dangerous _ , wild predator.

“Chomp!” Kailah squeaked as she tried again, swallowing hard as she tried to force herself to speak slower. “Chomp was-”

Dib could see all the fear was still there in the forefront as her voice shook. He still had no clue what he could do to help. His fists clenched at his sides as he watched and waited for an answer. 

“Chomp was sent here as a newborn!” She finally blurted, the tip of the PAK leg slowly stopped glowing as she spoke. “The P-pod was pre-programed with the destination! They-they were placed inside it and im-immediately sent into hyper s-sleep before they even took off! Wh-...when they landed, the Pod opened on it’s own! Their-their first priority was to find uh uh B-Bondmate!” She started hyperventilating with fear and paused to close her eyes as she tried to reign herself back in.

Dib noticed Chomp take a slow, careful half step forward-their own breathing strangely matching Kailah’s quick, rapid ones despite their calm, dangerous stance as they crept forward. Dib saw that their eyes were hard with both fear and murder as they steadily remained glued to the PAK leg. Dib’s fists started to shake slightly as he still tasted blood and bile on his tongue. He began looking for an opening against Zim as well. He had to do something. 

A part of him wished he hadn’t left his backpack in the ship...not that he had anything  _ useful  _ in it he could use against Zim-short of swinging the whole thing upside the alien’s head-but he just felt so  _ powerless  _ right now without some sort of weapon! Right now, he wasn’t able to do anything but watch-and hope-that Zim would let Kailah go with her hand still intact. Dib didn’t want to risk attacking unless he was  _ certain  _ he could do so without risking Kailah’s hand...or worse...

“Th-they were instructed  _ not  _ to reach out to the rest of Loughran under  _ any  _ circumstances!” Kailah continued once she got her breathing back under control. “So they never touched the Pod after they landed!” Her eyes didn’t leave Zim’s. She didn’t even seem to blink for fear of taking her eyes off him. “They...They…” She started to hesitate, but when the PAK leg started glowing hot again, her voice grew higher and she started speaking quickly with panic. “TheyhavenoideahowtousethePod!! They thought if they saw it; memories or something would be revealed-or unlocked-or whatever-to give a hint at how it works or something but... _ nothing _ !” She desperately tugged at her hand with a pleading look in her eyes, but it still didn’t even budge from within Zim’s grip.

Dib watched Chomp inch slowly closer. He carefully slid his own foot to the side in preparation; ready to launch forward and join if another fight broke out. He had to stop being a coward. Here was an alien, a  _ cryptid _ ! Right in front of him! And threatening the safety of a fellow human! Dib had to fight! He had to prove he was a true Paranormal Investigator! He couldn’t keep freezing up, especially not around a  _ real  _ threat!

“We-we were just trying to...to-” Kailah swallowed thickly as her breathing started to hitch up again. “Trying to determine if-...” She stopped struggling as the panic suddenly appeared to dissipate from her eyes.

**“We were trying to determine if changing my form would help**.” She said, her voice eerily calm as she spoke Chomp’s words in that lower pitched voice. “ **Wings aren’t exactly useful for operating a ship. So, we were debating if I should try using a different form to mess with the Pod.** **Maybe if we can** ** _open_** **it, that will trigger some memories**.”

Zim glanced at the Loughran, he appeared a little uneasy as he realized just how  _ close  _ they had managed to get without him noticing. After a long tense moment, the PAK leg’s glowing dimmed back to nothing. It remained firmly pressed to the side of Kailah’s hand, however, as Zim had a standoff with the other alien.

Kailah remained frozen in place, her breathing started coming in small, panicked gasps again. Chomp was standing less than two feet from them now. They appeared to be having the same panic attack as her-or at least, their chest was heaving in perfect sync with Kailah’s? Meanwhile, the rest of their body language was tall and threatening. Their eyes had a hard, determined look to them that didn’t match the panicked breathing at all, as they glared and held Zim’s gaze. 

Dib took a cautious half step forward, his heart pounding with adrenaline. Both his head and stomach gave another violent lurch as he watched with the broken view of his glasses. He forced his breathing to be slow and easy as he tried to ignore the nausea. 

Was this the time for him to intervene and try to de-escalate the situation? Kailah’s talking seemed to have done the trick a little-at least, Zim hadn’t actually followed through with his threat,  _ yet _ . But could Dib really risk relying on  _ just  _ that? There had to be something he could do-...he winced as another, stronger wave of nausea hit him and bile rose quickly to the back of his throat again. He quickly forced his left eye shut-even as part of him wondered when exactly it had opened again. His fists tightened-nails digging painfully into the palms-as he tried to wait out the intense nausea. 

He should probably turn off HD mode, that way he could fight with both eyes open. But then, he wouldn’t be able to see what the Loughran was doing. Should he switch to Thermal then? No, rapidly moving around in a fight with those bright colors in one eye would just disorient him more. Maybe he could-

“...A...newborn?” Zim said slowly, that same look of confusion returning to his face as Kailah’s rambling seemed to sink in. Dib watched as his antennae twitched forward, as if something just clicked; the final piece of a puzzle seeming to have fallen into place for him. His fake purple eyes slowly slid from Chomp to Kailah then back again. “I see.” He said softly, as a smirk-that was anything but friendly-slowly spread across his face. “So, that’s why you seem so different from the reports.” He said to the Loughran. “You never had the time to properly sync with the rest of the hivemind. Zim bets you’re more of an individual, than a part of the Loughran whole. No  _ wonder  _ you’re so violent, and  _ stupid _ .” He sneered smugly.

There was another heavy silence as Chomp simply glared at him with bared teeth and feathers fully bristled. Dib took another half step forward, the nausea slowly being replaced by a rock hard lump in his gut as he lowered himself and began to psych himself up for an attack. 

“Zim.” Kailah said quietly, regaining the alien’s attention and making Dib pause. She hesitated, then spoke in a soft, curious voice. “What do you know...about Loughran?”

Zim sneered at her as he waved his free clawed hand dismissively, “They are a  _ parasitic  _ being that split themself into multiple fractions and started stealing knowledge from other alien races. The Almighty Irken Empire saw them as the  _ threat  _ that they were, and decided the best way to get rid of these  _ parasitic spies  _ was to eradicate them.” He gave her a smug and taunting smirk before turning his attention back towards Chomp. “Apparently, before the job was done, they sent a  _ smeet  _ out into space! Heh, whole lotta good that did them. If you don’t even have their collective memory, then what’s the point?” He turned back to Kailah, and started to casually examine her wrist-still firmly in his grasp-as he continued. “From what Zim heard; the Loughran were pretty easy to track down and  _ exterminate  _ like the pests that they are.” He paused and met her eyes. “ _ Were _ .” He said as his smirk grew nastier. “It only took a clawful of what you call ‘Urth weeks’ to get rid of them. They hardly put up a fight.”

Kailah’s jaw tightened, and Dib was pretty sure he saw her eyes starting to shimmer as she glared at Zim with absolute hatred. Chomp seemed frozen in place, their rage slowly being replaced with a melancholy look of broken acceptance and defeat as their feathers slowly smoothed down as they began to lose hope of ever reconnecting with the rest of their kind.

Dib’s right eye gave a sudden, violent, and  _ extremely  _ uncomfortable spasm. He winced in pain and grunted as he quickly brought his hands up to tear his glasses off his face. He held them loosely in one hand as he insinctivly rubbed a fist forcefully against his right eye. That's it! That was the  _ last  _ straw! 

Dib was tired, hungry, thirsty, and  _ now  _ his right eye felt like it was being  _ stabbed _ ! He angrily tore his fist away from his eye and struggled to turn off HD mode before shoving his glasses back on his face. He ignored the slight, gray haze appearing in his vision from his right eye as he took the last step forward and reached out to Zim.

“Hey.” Dib said in a sharp tone as he wrapped his hand around the PAK leg and tried to pull it away from Kailah’s hand-he was a little shocked to find that it felt slighlty warm. “If we want to make it back before dark, we need to go.  _ Now _ .” He said firmly, trying to channel his inner Gaz in the hopes of appearing sufficiently threatening.

“Feh!” Zim easily slapped Dib’s hand away with his free claw. He narrowed his eyes at Dib for a moment; the two boys holding an intense staring contest as Kailah simply stood there. A depressed and defeated look slowly taking over everything from the way she stood, to the sorrowful and downcasted, glazed look in her eyes.

Dib heard leaves rustling off to the side, but didn’t dare look away from the alien threat right in front of him. He also continued to try his best to ignore the throbbing in his eye-as well as the gray haze that was creepily spreading out to about a third of his vision-as he held Zim’s glare.

“He’s right,” Kailah said softly, Zim’s gaze jumped to her, narrowing suspiciously. “I...we just  _ really  _ want to go home now. Zim...please. It’s been the  _ worst  _ two days of our life.” She brought her free hand up to wipe at her cheek, just under her eyes, even though no signs of tears appeared to have fallen. “Can you just take us home now?” She sounded so sad, it almost made Dib’s chest ache.

“Why should I.” Zim challenged as his suspicious look turned to one of irritation. “You have been  _ horrible  _ at keeping your half of the promise. Why should Zim keep my half!”

Kailah’s eyes turned to her pinkie. It was still being held at eye level between them. She let out a shaky, tired breath. “I’m sorry you didn’t think I was going to keep my promise.” Her voice sounded thick as she spoke, “But you need to understand; I’m not used- _ We’re _ not used to people knowing about them. We’ve spent our whole life keeping their existence a  _ secret _ . I’m not used to sharing their thoughts out loud.” She glanced at Dib, and he could have  _ sworn  _ he saw an apologetic, and almost regretful look flash in her eyes. 

Wait, was he reading that right? What did that mean?! Apologizing for what? Involving him in all this alien drama? Outside almost dying a few times, Dib’s never had this much excitement in his life!  _ Real Live Aliens _ ! A person who  _ believed  _ him about Bigfoot! Someone who actually  _ wanted  _ to talk to him about Vampires!! Regretting what? Telling him about Chomp in the first place? Dragging him out in the middle of the woods? Please! He got to  _ ride  _ in a  _ Real Live Alien Spaceship _ ! 

Plus,  _ he  _ was technically the one who dragged  _ her  _ out here! Or...was he misreading the expression on her face all together? Was it even directed at him? What if that look was for Chomp; and she was apologizing to  _ them  _ for telling  _ Dib _ ? 

Or...? 

Was that even an apologetic look? Or was it something else? 

But what...something more akin to, sorrow?

Was that even really regret he saw, or just exhaustion? 

Before he could attempt to go any deeper into trying to untangle the meaning behind the look, it was gone. Kailah turned her focus back on Zim, her expression hardening into a stern, neutral look and her voice gaining a bit more confidence as she continued. 

“But, the original promise was  _ ‘some  _ of their thoughts’...what just happened,” She paused to swallow the lump in her throat. “What just happened, before you started  _ threatening  _ cutting off my finger-was a  _ very  _ rapidfire conversation. A conversation that consisted of a slew of broken sentences, mixed mental images, and emotions.” She paused again, this time to take a slow, calming breath. It was hard to tell if she was trying to suppress rage or despair, since both emotions seemed to be warring on her face pretty equally. “Not exactly something  _ easy  _ to translate into words. It was just us, brainstorming; trying to find a solution or figure out how to activate the Pod. I-...I would have told you what we were  _ thinking  _ once we came to a  _ coherent  _ conclusion.” She looked at Zim with hard, hateful, watery eyes. “If you would have just given us  _ two  _ minutes to think! I would have told you what we were discussing!” 

“HA! And why should Zim believe you  _ now _ . You are probably just  _ lying  _ to save your stupid PINKY!”

“ **Because** .” Kailah replied in that lower voice, “ **We’ve told you the whole truth now: I know next to** **_nothing_ ** **about my own kind.** ” She hesitated and looked towards where Dib assumed Chomp now stood-right across from him-before looking to Zim again. “ **Now, please let my Bondmate go** .”

“Zim does not believe that is what it said.” He growled as he tightened his grip on her wrist.

“Yeah,” Kailah sighed with a resigned shrug and a pained grimace. “They were a bit more threatening...but I figured if I made it  _ sound  _ polite, you’d be less likely to start another fight with them. Cause- _ again _ , we all just really want to go home at this point. Right, Dib?” She looked at him with exhausted eyes and a strained smile.

“Oh...uh, yeah…right.” He agreed, caught off guard by his sudden inclusion. He glanced at his watch, squinting through the slight haze to read the numbers. “And we really should be going now, if we want to get back before sundown.”  _ Assuming that part of the Deal was still good? _ He glanced at Zim, then Kailah.  _ Hopefully it is, since her pinkie is still attached, that means the Deal isn’t off yet, right? _

Zim let out another low growl as he muttered something alien under his breath. He looked towards Chomp, antennae lowered. “One more answer first.”

“Yeah?” Kailah asked, glancing between all three of them while lightly tugging at her arm to try and free it, to no avail.

“Why are you so attached to _this_ hyuman.” Zim narrowed his eyes suspiciously at Chomp, antennae twitching in confusion and annoyance. “Loughran are able to switch hosts at will, are they not. What is so special about this... _Urth_ _smeet_ -that keeps you near.”

Kailah’s jaw tightened as her mouth became a hard, thin line. She didn’t look like she wanted to answer him, but then her eyes seemed to unfocus for a split second, before hardening and glaring at Zim.

“ **You seem like a smart guy,** **_Zim_ ** **.** ” Her voice was hard as icy, and made the hair on the back of Dib’s neck rise. “ **You haven’t figured it out yet?** ”

Kailah then cleared her throat, but Dib couldn’t tell if it was because of this fake voice she kept using...or something else.

“Look,” She continued in that same icy tone, cutting Zim off as he opened his mouth. “I’m just going to come out and say it. Cause I’m  _ fed up  _ of  _ everything  _ that’s happened the past two days and I. Just. Do. Not.  _ Care  _ anymore!” She glared at the spot Dib thought Chomp was, then fixed Zim with a pointed stare. “I’m starving, dehydrated, concussed, and  _ not  _ in a good mood. Chomp and I are Forever Bondmates, okay? We have no clue how it works, so don’t ask. It’s supposedly a super rare thing or whatever. All we know is that we’re a perfect match, so they  _ can’t  _ break the Bond. We don’t  _ want  _ to break the Bond. And if we’d known that traveling to the Pod would have resulted in me almost  _ dying _ , then  _ obviously  _ they wouldn’t have run off in the middle of class without thinking! And we wouldn’t be in this stupid  _ mess  _ right now!” She practically screamed.

Zim narrowed his eyes, antennae leaning back almost dangerously. “So,” He said thoughtfully, quietly “You’re stuck together?”

“We’re not  _ stuck _ .” Kailah said in exasperation with a slight roll of her eyes as she started tugging harder at her arm to emphasize her words. “We’re  _ Forever Bondmates _ . Now, can you  _ please  _ let GO(!) of my  _ hand  _ so we can all  _ go HOME _ !” She screamed.

“Don’t tell Zim what to do.” He said in a low, threatening voice. But at the same time, he let go of her hand as the PAK leg disappeared back into its home-faster than Dib’s tired eyes could register. 

Kailah stumbled back a few steps as she was suddenly and unexpectedly released. She rubbed her now free wrist while glaring daggers at Zim, then mumbled bitterly; “Yeah, I’m fine.” under her breath before turning sharply towards the Pod.

Zim took a casual step back and bent down to pick up his tablet from the forest floor. He looked it over for damage before collapsing it and stowing it away in his PAK; his face was a mask of boredom while his antennae sat flat against his head.

Dib watched Zim for a moment longer before he took a few steps towards Kailah. “Hey...?” He asked, as he awkwardly raised a hand towards her. It froze half way to her shoulder as his stupid brain started to overthink the gesture.

“I’m fine.” She said in a clipped tone as she briskly walked away and over to the Pod; kneeling down beside it in one quick, fluid motion. Not even looking at him.

“...Are you sure?” He lowered his hand slowly, feeling his ears softly burn with embarrassment as he followed her. He then paused and hovered behind her, not really sure if-or how-he should offer his help.

Kailah just sat there-unmoving-her eyes glued to the pod. Dib stood there silently, watching her as he stuffed his hands into his pants pockets, unsure what else to do with them. After a few stressful seconds, she let out an angry sigh and forced her shoulders to relax. She then leaned forward and started scrubbing away at the lichen and moss with both hands.

“No.” She admitted softly. “I’m not okay. But that doesn’t matter. We’re just going to get this stupid Pod in that  _ stupid  _ alien’s ship so we can go home.” She paused and looked at him over her shoulder. “I...He scares me, Dib.” She whispered.

_ Who, Zim? Cause honestly Chomp seeming to be able to  _ possess  _ you is pretty terrifying to me.  _ Dib tried to push the thought away as he gave her a look that was an awkward cross between a sympathetic frown and a reassuring smile-unsure what else to say or do. He then glanced back over to Zim. 

The alien was still standing where they’d left him; tapping his foot impatiently and watching them with his arms crossed tightly over his chest, his antennae pinned back. 

Dib turned back to Kailah and watched as she picked up a fallen branch and used it to push the poison ivy away. Her expression was a little hard to read-as it had been for most of this stressful encounter. What, with the rapidly changing and conflicting emotions that didn’t seem to fit together and all. 

But now, it was also because her hair was partially obscuring her face. Dib was pretty sure she wasn’t exaggerating her fear of Zim, though-he  _ had  _ just threatened to cut off her finger after all. But what Dib just saw, coming from the Loughran, that still didn’t sit right with him. 

Dib watched as she continued to clean off the Pod, he could see a hint of the fear hidden amongst her anxious features-he also saw a hint of grief and guilt, but he thought those could be leaking through from Chomp.

Dib reached a hand up and pushed his glasses to his forehead so he could rub at his right eye while thinking; it  _ would  _ make more sense for those emotions to be coming from the Loughran. After all, they  _ did  _ impulsively come all the way out here just to get some answers, only to realize they couldn’t even  _ access  _ the stupid alien Pod thing once they got here. 

Plus, that impulsive decision almost caused the death of their Bondmate  _ three  _ times.

Once due to the distance, then the Voot crashing, and just now, with Zim…

Dib was beginning to wonder if that  _ thing  _ really did have Kailah’s best interest at heart...it certainly didn’t seem like it to him.

“Do you...need any help, carrying it?” He asked lamely as he placed his glasses back in their rightful spot. He wasn’t really sure what else to say as he nervously ran a hand through his hair. Part of him wondered if  _ now  _ would be a good time to try and put that reassuring hand on her shoulder, but his stupid brain kept over thinking it, going around in circles until he was convinced that either the moment had passed, or he’d somehow mess the gesture up and just make everything worse. So instead, he just shifted on his feet nervously and pushed his glasses up his nose, yet  _ again,  _ as they slipped down.

“I got it.” Kailah said as she stood and tucked the now good-as-new Pod under one arm. “It’s not that heavy.” She explained as she gave Dib a half hearted smile that seemed to say ‘But thank you for offering’. He felt his gut inexplicably twist a bit at that. She then turned her head to her right and lifted her free hand to pet the empty space next to her; that sad and regretful look returning. “Let’s go home…”

“Yeah,” Dib searched her face for a moment longer, briefly wondering again if he should try the shoulder thing, before his social anxiety won out and he found himself turning back to Zim. “Alright, Space Jerk. Where did you park your ship?”

The alien’s top lip curled up slightly and he muttered something alien under his breath-Dib doubted it was anything family friendly. Zim then turned sharply on his heels and marched confidently off into the forest. 

Dib followed him with Kailah close behind.

The boy pushed his glasses up to his forehead again and rubbed at his right eye, silently thankful it wasn’t throbbing as painfully any more. Unfortunately though, that weird gray haze hadn’t disappeared yet-still taking up about a third of his vision. Dib tried to ignore the worried lump in his gut, by reminding himself that his Dad had just about every doctorate under the sun-including several medical ones. Sure, his Dad warned him not to use the new settings excessively until proper tests could be run; so he’ll probably be disappointed and give Dib a long, stern lecture about ruining his eyesight...but surely he’d be able to fix it, right? 

“Is your eye okay?”

“Huh?” Dib brought his glasses back to their rightful place and looked at Kailah, she looked...guilty? Like she felt responsible for his eye bugging him? “Yeah, it’s fine.” He lied. “Just an eyelash or something.” He shrugged casually before pushing a low hanging tree branch aside and holding it for her.

“Okay.” She didn’t sound completely convinced, but she also didn’t press any further. She just looked down and stared at the Pod as they walked.

After walking in silence for a few minutes, the realization struck him that she probably felt guilty because  _ she  _ technically gave him the idea to make the upgrades to his glasses in the first place? But, it wasn’t like she could have predicted all of this running around in the woods. Or that it would force his curiosity to outweigh caution, thus making him use the new settings more than he was supposed to. Nor could she have known about the limits with the HD mode when she’d made that suggestion yesterday-so really, it was all on Dib for ignoring his Dad’s warnings while throwing caution to the wind and damaging his eyesight. She didn’t have anything to feel guilty about.

Dib realized-a little too late-that he should probably  _ tell  _ her that, so that the guilt didn’t eat away at her or something. But then he looked up, and there was the Voot.

Although the search for the Pod seemed to have taken the better part of an hour, the walk back to the ship had only taken about eight minutes. 

Zim was already climbing inside and preparing to start up the engines when Dib, Kailah, and Chomp emerged into the clearing. Without anyone saying anything to each other, Dib climbed into the ship then reached down as Kailah handed him the Pod. He put it securely on the floor next to their backpacks as she climbed in after.

Kailah took her spot on the bench seat, willingly squishing herself up against the wall of the ship. Once she was settled, Dib sat next to her, trying to give her a few inches of space while Zim still ended up with more than half the bench to himself.

Zim slapped a button and the windshield slipped closed. Dib then watched as Zim went through the pre-launch sequence. _ Oh cool! _ Dib sat up a little straighter, his eyes sparkling with excitement when he realized he was actually starting to memorize which buttons got pressed in which order! He still couldn’t make out any sense of the alien symbols, but Dib was  _ pretty  _ sure he was starting to see the pattern of which buttons did what!

“How’re the engines?” He asked curiously, trying to sound casual as his eyes followed Zim’s every movement.

Zim glanced at him, one antenna twitching up in curiosity as he tapped the button that launched the Voot into the sky. “Fine.” He tapped a few more buttons, setting their altitude. Then Zim nudged the yoke, setting their direction of flight. Then he tapped a few more buttons, setting their speed. 

And just like that, the cockpit was filled with sunlight as they made their way west. 

Back towards Illinois. 

Back towards the city they called home.

***

It didn’t take long for the annoying and arrogant host-girl to fall asleep. She was thankfully unconscious within the first thirteen minutes. The Loughran-in its brown and black serpent form-was fully curled around her neck, its unblinking eyes focused on the scenery outside. 

The Dib-beast, however, was still watching Zim as he piloted the Voot. But even his eyes were starting to droop slowly with exhaustion from the day's events weighing him down.

Zim reached forward and tapped at the virtual keyboard-subtly changing the settings of the ventilation system. Nothing too drastic, just something to help the weak and pathetic  _ hyuman  _ fall asleep and stay asleep. This way, Zim could do what he wanted without prying, curious eyes. 

Zim’s left antennae twitched a few minutes later when he heard the Dib-beast start snoring softly, indicating he’d finally fallen asleep. 

The Irken smirked to himself.

He then glanced at the Loughran again. Zim wasn’t sure if that parasite slept or not, but it hadn’t seemed to notice the shift in oxygen levels. It simply sat around the host-girl’s neck and continued to stare out the windshield with its unsettling, unblinking reptilian eyes. 

In fact, he didn’t think it had so much as glanced in Zim’s direction since take off. Like it was purposefully ignoring him?

Good. 

Zim figured it was safe to risk executing his plan now.

Sparing one last glance at the two sleeping hyumans and the Loughran-which still hadn’t so much as moved-Zim began to quietly type away on the keyboard.

A small wire snaked out of a hidden panel in the floor of the Voot. It moved silently towards the Pod like a living thing. 

It attached itself to the Pod’s hull and began downloading all of its data.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seriously though, why do Kailah and Zim /refuse/ to get along!??  
> And Chomp! What was that!!?
> 
> Next chapter may be delayed cause I have to work on some irl projects, but I'm super excited for y'all to read it!  
> Don't forget to leave a comment <3


	16. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am SO sorry for the delay!!   
> For those of you who don't follow me on Tumblr (or those who are reading this in the future and thus missed my posts) This chapter ended up being 17,546 WORDS!! It had NO scene changes or any feasible paragraph brakes where I felt like it was a natural stopping point...so I just kept writing ^_^;  
> And I didn't even /realize/ how long it had gotten until I was about ready to post it! So I had to do quite a bit of editing and rereading in order to find a way to to break it up into smaller parts
> 
> And because of /that/, not much happens in this chapter (I'm so sorry) but it also means the next update hopefully wont be too far away-since it's all already written and just needs a bit more editing X3

**Chapter 15**

Dib rubbed his right eye sleepily before letting out a huge yawn. He was actually a little surprised that he’d somehow managed to fall asleep on the way home. Between the excitement of flying in an alien spaceship, the mystery of what secrets the Pod could reveal, the worry about the quality of the vision in his right eye…his insomnia…

Wait…

Typically, he’d toss and turn for _hours_ in his very comfortable bed before he’d finally be able to fall asleep. And it was practically _impossible_ for him to fall asleep in a car-and this _wasn’t_ a car! It was an _alien spaceship!_ And its bench seat wasn’t even _half_ as comfortable as a car seat-let alone his bed!

Either the events of the day had worn him down  _ way  _ more than he’d originally thought-why else would he have managed to fall asleep in  _ such  _ an uncomfortable sitting position-or-…? 

_ An hour and a half!? _ He realized with shock as he looked down at his watch-it certainly didn’t  _ feel  _ like he’d been out for that long! 

Dib grunted silently as he sat up straighter and started rolling his stiff shoulders-he felt his neck and back crackle a bit in response. He ran a hand through his hair as he stared down at his lap and tried to gather his thoughts.  _ So, either I passed out from the day’s events...or…? _

Something just didn’t seem to add up or sit right with him. Why-no!  _ How _ could he have just fallen asleep like that??

Before he passed out, his mind had been buzzing pretty loudly while it mulled over the events of the day. It wasn’t like him to simply Fall Asleep while his head was so full!

And the more he thought about it, the more Dib suspected that falling asleep hadn’t been his choice! It just  _ wasn’t  _ like him to fall asleep with something so  _ Earth shattering  _ going on around him! 

_ I mean, come on! I have insomnia, not narcolepsy! _

Dib found himself frowning slightly as he straightened his glasses. He looked around the dimly lit-and slightly hazy gray-interior of the Voot. The harder he tried, the more he realized he couldn’t actually  _ remember  _ falling asleep. 

He remembered watching Zim piloting the ship-while also trying to make sense of the readings on the screens (as well as the different functions of the many buttons) on the console-all the while, his mind was mulling over the possible secrets of the Loughran’s Pod. 

Then he was waking up. Nothing in between. No tiredness slipping into darkness. No memory of nodding off. No dreams. Just thinking, then poof! He was waking up over an  _ hour  _ later with a dry, cottony feeling in his mouth and a dim throbbing behind his eyes.

He gave the alien to his right a suspicious look.

Zim had his wig back on and was ‘innocently’ tapping away at the dashboard-conveniently avoiding eye contact with Dib.

Dib felt his frown deepen slightly as his eyebrows knit together. When Zim still refused to acknowledge him, he turned to look at Kailah on his other side. She was still sound asleep-as if the wall of the ship was the warmest and fluffiest bed she’s ever encountered in her life-then again...that could just have something to do with her concussion…? 

Her torso was still in that uncomfortable looking, slightly twisted shape. Her head flopped back against the window, mouth hanging slack and slightly ajar as she made very soft-and almost squeaky sounding-snores. Dib felt his frown soften and twitch into an almost smile until an observation from earlier finally struck him:  _ dimly. lit. interior. _

Dib quickly sat forward and looked outside. The sky was a soft mix of deep indigo, light purple, whitish pink, bright yellow, deep orange, and a soft red. Along with the annoyingly constant-and slightly worrying-colorblind gray blurry haze that still took up about a third of his right eye’s vision. 

Dib leaned further forward to try and get a better look at the ground. They were flying slow and low over the suburbs of a city?

His whole body relaxed as he let out a breath he hadn’t even known he’d been holding.

He recognized the neighborhood they were flying over. 

This was  _ his  _ city.

They weren’t too late. The Sun hadn’t officially set yet and they were almost home.

_ Though, it  _ is  _ mostly Kailah who has to get home before dark. _ Dib thought, as he remembered that he, himself, didn’t have such a curfew. But then, his mind briefly flashed to an angry image of Gaz, and he gave a small, involuntary shiver.  _ Actually, it is  _ probably  _ best I get home as soon as possible, too...Oh man, she’s definitely gonna kill me when she sees me. _

Dib was still watching the houses pass by below when Zim finally spoke and brought the boy’s attention back to the interior of the ship.

“Wake the host-girl.” Zim said in a calm and authoritative tone while he pulled back on the yoke-effectively bringing the Voot to a hover. “This is her dwelling.”

“Huh? Oh, yeah. Okay...” Dib turned and awkwardly reached out to place a hand on Kailah’s shoulder-preparing to shake her awake. But, when his hand landed on something smooth to the touch-and unexpectedly hard with a slight give(!?)-instead of the soft fabric of her hoodie-he let out a surprised gasp and quickly jumped back as he withdrew his hand from the unseen and surprising contact.

Zim roughly pushed him away with a small hiss as Dib accidentally backed into him. A tiny part of Dib was impressed that the alien didn’t retaliate in a more violent way-considering what happened  _ last  _ time something had caught Dib off guard and he accidentally threw himself at the alien.

Kailah let out a sleepy moan and curled into herself as she tried to press closer to the wall of the ship. 

Dib just sat there, feeling stunned-his hand still awkwardly frozen midair. He could practically  _ feel  _ Zim rolling his eyes in annoyance behind him; as the alien muttered something in his native language under his breath. Meanwhile, Dib’s slightly foggy mind slowly caught up and connected the dots on what, exactly, he had just felt. He looked down at his hand, still feeling the snake scales on his palm, like the weird whisper of a ghost. 

“Uh...Kailah?” Dib tried, slowly lowering his hand and rubbing his palm against his pants a couple of times to try and erase the sensation still prickling at his skin. 

“I don’  _ wanna _ .” She mumbled sleepily.

“But we’re at your house.” Dib paused, then turned to Zim. “Wait. How’d you know where she  _ lives _ ?” He glared suspiciously at the alien.

Zim gave a quick shrug with an ‘I don’t know’ hum-paired with an innocent look of confusion on his face that Dib didn’t buy for a single second.

Dib narrowed his eyes further, but got distracted when Zim suddenly reached forward and-without any warning-slapped a button. The windshield sprang open and a strong blast of cold, crisp air rushed into the small cockpit of the ship. Dib yelped and threw his hands up-as if he could block it-while squeezing his eyes shut against the force. The wind messily ruffled and whipped his hair and trench coat about as it whirlwind loudly through the interior of the ship.

The cold wind also seemed to instantly wake Kailah up, as she let out an undignified squawk while flailing into an upright position. She glared at the air around her with bleary eyes-seemingly mad at  _ it  _ for being cold and windy instead of  _ Zim  _ for being the one who actually opened the stupid windshield!

Once the wind settled down, Kailah let out a defeated groan and dragged her hands down her face with exaggerated exhaustion. Dib reached up in annoyance and tried to smooth his hair back and out of his face-all the while muttering about ‘stupid aliens’ under his breath. Zim had the  _ audacity  _ to look smug as he casually removed one gloved clawed hand from his plastic wig.

When Kailah finished with the face rubbing, she began to stretch. 

She carefully reached both arms high above her head while simultaneously stretching her legs out in front of her-careful not to hit Dib or their bags. She let out another long groan as she stretched her whole body out like one of those medieval turture devices. Dib could clearly hear several loud popping and crackling noises coming from her back and shoulders as she did so. 

He then heard a disgusted grunt from behind him, and looked over just in time to see Zim’s look of  _ absolute  _ mortification at the multitude of sounds coming from the girl. Dib couldn’t help but snicker quietly at the alien’s over the top reaction.

As Kailah eased herself back into a relaxed sitting position, she began to look around the cockpit. Dib noticed she had a slightly confused look in her eyes-as if she wasn’t quite sure where she was for a moment. Although, after she took in her surroundings, her mind seemed to catch up to her-or perhaps, Chomp had clued her in? 

Dib briefly wondered, if maybe, she had fallen asleep in the same mysterious manor he had. That is, until he remembered that she had been asleep for a while before he had passed out. 

Kailah leaned over to look out and down through the now open window. 

“Chomp and I do  _ not  _ like the fact that you know where we live.” She said in a grumpy voice still thick with sleep. After a beat, she glared at Zim out of the corner of her eye.

Zim just waved a dismissive gloved claw. “I don’t care. Now, out.” He ordered airly.

“... _ How _ ??!” She quickly turned to face him while spreading both her arms wide in a comical you-gotta-be-kidding-me way. Well, it  _ would  _ have been comical, if Dib didn’t have to suddenly duck as one of her hands just barely missed slapping him upside the face. “We’re like, a  _ hundred  _ feet above the ground!” Kailah squeaked in disbelief before throwing Dib a quick apologetic, and embarrassed look as she withdrew her hand slightly.

“LIES!” Zim suddenly shouted-making both the kids jump. The alien then continued in a calm, matter-of-fact voice with another vague, circling wave of his gloved claw, “We’re only seventy-five feets above the ground.”

Kailah just blinked at him with a bewildered expression as both her arms fell to her sides like dead weight. She then exchanged a ‘look’ with the invisible Chomp on her shoulder. 

Dib actually found himself shaking with laughter at the exchange. Kailah’s and Zim’s over the top reactions were just  _ too  _ bizarre on top of an already extremely weird day. Aliens were  _ real _ ! He was in an alien  _ spaceship _ ! He had made a  _ friend _ !! Today was  _ so  _ **_weird_ ** !!! 

He reached up to adjust his glasses-still laughing-but he froze when Kailah’s  _ ‘you gotta be kidding me’ _ gaze slowly turned to him. They locked eyes for a heartbeat. Dib could feel his ears and cheeks heating up with shame and embarrassment as his laughter quickly died in his throat. He found himself unknowingly holding his breath as he kept his gaze locked with her’s. He couldn’t tell if she was mad at him for laughing, or if she was simply confused by it. 

Icy fear gripped his gut, had he just lost the only friend he’s ever had because he was _ stupid _ enough to laugh at her?!

But then, Kailah snorted and covered her mouth as she started loudly laughing, too! 

Dib was shocked to find just how  _ relieved  _ that sound made him feel. The ice instantly melted and he couldn’t help the nervous laugh that started to escape him in response. 

She didn’t hate him! She was laughing  _ with  _ him!

The two pre-teens started feeding off each other's nervous hysterics. Both their laughters quickly spiraled out of control and lasted probably about twice as long as it should have.

Zim narrowed his eyes at them and finally snapped: “What’s so funny!”

“Nothing,” Kailah said as she forced her giggles to subside. “It’s a human thing. You wouldn’t understand.” She then shook her head, let out an amused huff, then playfully rolled her eyes towards Chomp. Afterwards, she motioned out the window with one hand, while leaning forward on the bench seat-looking pass Dib who was still trying to quell his own giggles to address Zim. “Can you please-I don’t know-park the ship in my backyard or something? So I can get out?”

“No.” Zim growled softly. “Zim will not risk your  _ stupid  _ neighbors seeing my  _ amazing  _ Voot!”

“...What’s stopping them from looking up and seeing it right now?” Dib asked, honestly curious as he adjusted his glasses.

“It’s  _ cloaked _ . Obviously!” Zim crossed his arms and rolled his eyes, hard.

“Then can’t you just keep it cloaked? And land it in the yard?” Kailah asked with a surprisingly calm and polite tone-albeit, a little strained.

Zim glared at her. She gave him a pretty convincing polite smile in return.

Dib motioned towards the sky. “It’s almost dark.” He reminded, hoping to help push Zim towards the decision that didn’t result in Kailah having to figure out how to survive a fall from seventy-five feet up.

Zim growled and muttered something alien under his breath as he reached forward to type in the command sequence to descend. The Voot began to lower smoother than an elevator into the fenced backyard. 

Dib was actually pretty impressed that it didn’t make a single sound as it touched down with the softest landing yet by far. 

At least, he  _ was _ , until he realized that meant  _ all  _ the other take offs and landings so far-minus the crash-have most likely been  _ unnecessarily  _ rough and jarring on  _ purpose _ ! That just made Dib feel annoyed, because it showed that Zim was able to make the ride smooth and comfortable this  _ whole time _ and  _ chose  _ not to! Stupid alien  _ jerk _ !!

Kailah paused for a moment after they landed. Her eyes traced a path from where she sat to a spot in the yard several feet away. She gave a soft smile just as Dib realized she was probably watching and waiting for Chomp to exit the Voot first. 

She probably hadn’t even recognized the difference in feel as they landed-seeing that she was unconscious for about half of them.

Dib scooted a little closer to Zim-who let out a low growl, which Dib pointedly ignored-so he could give Kailah room as she bent down to grab her backpack from the floor. She tossed it gently out of the Voot, the bag froze midair as Chomp seemed to catch it. Dib watched, intrigued, as it was then gently lowered to the ground by the invisible alien. 

Kailah then grabbed the Pod and tucked it under one arm before awkwardly climbing out of the Voot. Dib scooted back to the other side of the ship as she left-mostly to get away from Zim’s murderous glare-and watched as Kailah hopped down the last foot or so to the ground.

After backing up a few steps, Kailah looked up to Dib and Zim-adjusting the Pod in her grip. “So…” She hesitated, looking unsure as she tried to find the right words. “I’m probably going to skip skool tomorrow. The last few days have been...what’s a good word?” She glanced to her left. “Ah, yes. Thank you.” She looked back up at them. “ _ Extremely Stressful _ .” She emphasised the words as she gave Dib a playful smirk-though he wasn’t entirely sure what hidden meaning was meant with it. 

“And since tomorrow is Friday,” She continued casually. “I think Chomp and I deserve a three day weekend.” She reached her free hand up to rub sleepily at her face-smooshing her cheek all around-before tucking a lock of hair behind her ear and lowering her hand back down to rest on top of the Pod. “Thanks for driving us around Zim. And Dib. Thank you for convincing him to.” The latter half sounded twice as sincere as the first half as she gave Dib an actual, genuinely grateful smile.

Dib felt his face heat up a bit as he started giving an awkward-and slightly embarrassed-stuttering response of ‘What are friends for?’. But the  _ swish  _ of the windshield closing cut him off before he could even get the first word out. He turned to glare at Zim-and tell him off for being rude-when suddenly, he found himself letting out a surprised yelp instead. Dib was pushed roughly back into the seat by the invisible force of gravity as the Voot rocketed straight up. 

Zim then pointedly ignored Dib’s complaints and protests as the Voot came to a jarring stop high above the ground-making Dib leave the seat by a few panic inducing inches with the sudden switch in momentum. The alien casually pushed on the yoke and directed them towards the boy’s house as Dib clutched at the lip of the seat with a death grip and continued to yell at him. 

Less than forty seconds later, they arrived above Dib’s backyard. Zim wasted no time landing the ship and opening the windshield-not bothering to be gentle about any of it. He then turned to Dib and gave him a venomous glare. 

“Yeah, yeah. I’m  _ leaving _ .” Dib let out an annoyed sigh and rolled his eyes as he grabbed his bag from the floor, he swung it over one shoulder then moved to climb out of the ship. But before he could even swing one of his legs over the side, Zim’s three clawed hand wrapped tightly around his wrist-effectively holding him in place. Dib looked over his shoulder at the disguised alien and raised a questioning eyebrow.

“Give Zim’s gloves back.” He said with narrowed eyes.

“What?” Dib tried to play innocent.

“The Gloves! Give them to  _ Ziimm _ !” His free hand reached forward with a grabby motion while the other’s grip tightened around Dib’s wrist-Dib couldn’t help but wince.

“Fine, alright,  _ sheesh _ .” He muttered as he tugged and pulled at his arm until Zim finally released it. Dib dropped his backpack onto the seat before reaching into his coat pocket to pull out the gloves.

Zim snatched them roughly from Dib’s grip before they were even half way out of his pocket. “Out!” The alien snapped.

“I am, I am.” Dib rolled his eyes again as he adjusted his glasses and went to climb out. But  _ apparently  _ he didn’t move fast enough for the stupid alien's liking, as he suddenly found himself flying through the air. He landed hard on his tailbone in the grass below.

His backpack quickly followed, hitting him in the back of the head as he was attempting to stand up-effectively knocking him over again.

“HEY!” Dib shouted as he made to stand up again, intent to tell the alien off, but by the time he’d managed to get to his feet and turn around to face the menace; the alien and his ship were nowhere to be seen. Not even the glow of the engines in the twilight sky above.

Dib rubbed his sore tailbone with one hand as he grumbled irritably under his breath. He reached down to grab his backpack and swung it over his shoulder in one fluid motion. Then he turned towards the back door of his house and trudged across the yard-pushing his glasses back into place as he went. The irritation of the rough and rude send off effectively making him completely miss the fact that Zim knew where he lived, too.

He peaked in through the back window. Most of the lights were off, but he could see there was a dim, flickering light coming from the living room. A very clear indication that Gaz was either watching tv, or playing one of her more action oriented video games.

Dib chewed on his lip as he dropped his backpack next to the door. He started pacing around the backyard, trying to think of the best way he could sneak into the house and make his way to the Basement Lab-without Gaz noticing. 

He really hoped he’d be able to fix his glasses before their Dad got home-it was honestly the best way to avoid receiving a stern talking to about being in his Lab without permission...and for breaking the glasses, of course. 

Dib also had to figure out  _ how  _ exactly he was going to break the news of his damaged retinas...though, he had a feeling explaining  _ that  _ to his Dad would be a lot easier-and  _ probably  _ more forgivable-than if he found out that Dib had broken the glasses they’d spent all the previous night building together. 

Mostly because his Dad would see him over testing the glasses-and pushing his vision past its limit-as Dib showing ‘Enthusiasm for  **Science** (!)’. But, if his Dad found out that Dib had broken them, he’d see it as a sign that Dib couldn’t be trusted with the responsibility of having such high grade tech at his disposal. 

So it would be better to try and fix them before his Dad found out, right? But if his Dad found out that Dib snuck into the Lab-especially without his permission-to try and hide the fact that he’d broken the glasses; that would just get him into even  _ bigger  _ trouble.

Mostly because his Dad has already told him multiple times on several different occasions that he is  _ not  _ allowed in the Lab without permission or supervision under  _ any  _ circumstances!...Something about highly unstable and dangerous tech being stored down there(?)-though Dib’s never seen anything more dangerous than a few random vials of mysteriously glowing and unlabeled chemicals...and a centrifuge or two.

And there was also the fact that if his Dad  _ did  _ somehow find out that he had snuck into the Lab without permission, then he wouldn’t trust Dib, at all,  _ period _ ! In fact, he’d probably lock the door to the Lab and set up a whole bunch of security cameras...if he didn’t just straight up remove the Lab from the house altogether...

Dib sighed. Maybe it would just be better to wait for his Dad to get home and ask for his help to fix them? Sure, he’d probably be disappointed that Dib managed to damage the glasses-and his eyesight-and he’d  _ probably  _ give him a whole lecture on needing to ‘Be More Responsible and Respect Delicate Technology’. But he’d actually be  _ mad  _ if he found out Dib went into his Lab alone...

_ No, there’s no telling  _ when  _ Dad will actually be home again! _ Dib ran his hands through his hair in frustration as he continued to erratically pace around the yard-trying to sort out his thoughts. 

They’d just had their monthly Family Dinner Night  _ yesterday _ . It could be  _ days  _ before his Dad even came home again! 

It was probably better to just try and fix the glasses himself...and hope his Dad didn’t find out that he had to use his Lab to do so?

Then the next time he actually  _ saw  _ his Dad; he could ask for help with his right eye…?

Dib rubbed the back of his neck. _ I can probably manage a few days with this impaired vision, right?  _

That’s when it hit him, that that would  _ also  _ mean that it’d be a few  _ days  _ before he’d even be able to  _ use  _ any of the settings on his glasses! So even if he  _ did  _ manage to fix them by himself, he wouldn’t actually be able to  _ use  _ them until his eye was fixed!

“Then again,” Dib muttered, “Kailah  _ did  _ say she was going to skip skool tomorrow. And it’d be the weekend after that...So, I don’t exactly have a  _ reason  _ to use any of the new settings on the glasses for the next few days, right?”

Maybe it’d just be easier to grab his old pair of glasses and use them while he waited for his Dad to come home again?

“No! What if there’s another emergency!?” Dib flailed his hands up as he suddenly pivoted a one-eighty and continued to walk aimlessly around the yard. “Or another  _ really  _ cool and unexpected adventure?! I’d  _ need  _ those extra settings!”

He paused.

_ Or-at the very least-I’d need the Thermal setting... _ Dib scratched the back of his head thoughtfully before he continued to pace around in the now fully dark backyard. 

He was pretty sure he could easily tweak the glass’s Thermal mode to work for just his left eye-that would give his right a break for a few days at least. But, that would also mean he’d have to fix the left cracked lens first. 

And there was  _ no way  _ he was going to fix the cracked lens without  _ also  _ fixing the stupid, annoyingly bent frame! 

And he’d need the Lab to fix both. 

Plus, if he wanted to modify the coding, he’d have to go to the basement anyway, since all the coding was saved to one of the computers down there.

But, unfortunately, editing the code like that was only a temporary fix-one that ran the risk of damaging his left eye as well...but it  _ was  _ a solution...of sorts. 

“I mean, as long as I absolutely do  _ not  _ use HD mode At All-and limited Thermal to  _ absolute  _ emergencies only...then it  _ should  _ be safe enough, right? Especially if I edit the brightness and contrast of the colors down a bit like I was thinking of earlier?”

Dib stopped pacing and ran his hands through his hair slowly, feeling a bit of anxiety building up in his chest.

“Yeah. That sounds like it could work?” He muttered softly, trying to push the negative thoughts away as he continued to mull over his options. He was  _ so  _ close to formulating a solid plan! Everything looked like it was beginning to fall into place. 

He started to enthusiastically move his arms about as he muttered under his breath and began pacing again-the added motion helping him to organize his thoughts.

He’d sneak into the Basement Lab, edit the coding, patch up the lens, fix the bent frame, cover his tracks; then, next time he saw his Dad, he'll just make up some excuse about getting too enthusiastic while experimenting with the settings. And then he would just pretend the damage to his right eye was something new-and not, say,  _ days _ old!

“Yeah, that could work!” Dib was practically power walking in tight, excited circles.

And-even if it was super unlikely-if his Dad asked, Dib could lie and say that he’d downloaded the code onto his own personal laptop, and simply used  _ it  _ to change the coding! 

His Dad would never even have to learn that Dib was in his Lab!

Feeling confident in this new plan of his, Dib turned and jogged excitedly across the yard-back towards the backdoor. He picked up his backpack from the stoop and quickly swung it over his shoulder as he put his hand on the doorknob. 

“Aaannd Locked.”

Great. Just, great.

He let out an annoyed huff as he backed up a few steps and looked up at the house. He could easily see his bedroom window, but he distinctly remembered locking it before going to skool this morning. 

Plus, there was the fact that there wasn’t really an  _ easy  _ way for him to get to it from ground level...since he had focused all his effort on making a ladder to take him up to the roof-not down to the yard. 

Dib’s eyes briefly fluttered over to the other window on the back of the house, and a shiver ran down his spine involuntarily. 

Gaz’s window was simply out of the question. No way. No how. Even if he was one hundred and  _ ten  _ percent positive that she wouldn’t catch him in her room-or find out that he’d ever even  _ step foot  _ in there! There was just no way, no how, he would even  _ attempt  _ it. Nope. Nuh-huh. Two thousand percent  _ no _ .

Dib sighed in defeat, “I’m going to have to use the front door, aren’t I?” 

There was no other way around it. 

Dib let out a frustrated groan as he pushed his glasses up his nose and began to make his way around the outside of the house. 

Another chill then unexpectedly ran up his spine-and he knew it wasn’t caused by the crisp night air, because it came along with the unpleasant grip of anxiety and guilt deep in his gut. 

Gaz was going to be  _ so  _ mad at him! 

How was she even going to react when she finally saw him. Would she glare and growl? Throw stuff at him? Threaten to beat him up?  _ Actually  _ beat him up? Blackmail him? Just straight up pick up the phone and call their Dad?!

There was just  _ no  _ way she was going to forgive him for ditching her at skool! 

And then the fact that he was getting home so late? Without any sort of a heads up? And no convincing lie stored away in his back pocket…?

_ Yeah, she’s totally going to- _

Dib quickly shook the thought away and tried not to dwell on it. He would just end up psyching himself out, and then he’d  _ never  _ be able to go back in the house again. He’d probably end up living alone in the woods for the rest of his life-becoming a local cryptid, himself...Actually, that didn’t sound half bad? Almost sounded a little fun…

_ Note to self. Become a local cryptid. _

Dib sighed and muttered. “Maybe if I’m lucky, she’ll be wearing her stupid big and expensive noise cancelling gaming headphones...and she’ll completely miss me sneaking into the house?”

Heh, like he could ever be  _ that  _ lucky! No, she was probably sitting on the couch, just  _ waiting  _ for him to show his face.

His gaze flickered towards their detached garage as he passed it, his mind briefly playing with the idea of hiding out in  _ there  _ until Gaz went up to her room for the night. 

Dib let out a regrettable sigh, and quickly dismissed the thought with a shake of his head. His sister’s rath would only be  _ worse  _ if he delayed the inevitable. Plus, there was no telling how long she was going to stay up playing her game. And seeing that she had the same insomnia that he-and their Dad-were both cursed with; she could easily stay up till it was time to leave for skool tomorrow without any issues. 

Best to just man up and enter the house.

Dib tightened his grip on his backpack’s strap with determination as he reached the front door of their house. He paused to take in a deep breath and steady his nerves. 

He then placed his thumb on the deadbolt, it flashed green and he heard the soft  _ ‘click’  _ of the door unlocking. He slowly let his breath out as he gently nudged the door aside-trying to be as quiet as possible.

He poked his head in and anxiously glanced around the living room.

There was Gaz, sitting on the couch in the dark. She was playing some well-animated video game that Dib had never bothered to learn the name of.

Dib could hear the music playing softly through the TV’s speakers. Which meant: no headphones.

_ Darn _ .

Dib swallowed quietly and nudged the door open a little further as he slipped into the house. His eyes nervously darted around the dimly lit-and slightly gray/hazy room with paranoia; even though he  _ knew  _ no one else would be here. Just Gaz. 

He carefully guided the door back to its frame and held his breath as it clicked shut.

He paused.

The sounds of game play did not falter.

Dib released his breath as he turned and quietly tiptoed along the wall as fast as he dared. He slowly edged towards the door that sat nestled between the kitchen and living room. All the while his eyes continued to rapidly dart between Gaz, the TV, and his goal: the door that led to the Basement Lab.

After several agonizing seconds of careful tiptoeing, bated breath, and pounding heart, Dib’s hand finally landed on the doorknob to the basement.

Silence.

Dib froze as he realized he could no longer hear the game’s soundtrack. 

“Where were you.”

Dib didn’t have to look to know that his sister was glaring daggers at him-he could tell just by the way the hair on the back of his neck prickled and stood on end. Still, he found himself slowly turning towards her with a way too big, and awkward smile on his face-trying to play it cool.

“Oh, you know…” He said airly and nervously at the same time. “Uh, hunting...aliens?”

Gaz’s eyes narrowed and Dib gripped the strap of his backpack nervously with white knuckles.

“W-with Zim, cause you know. He’s an  _ alien _ !” His voice cracked on the last word, causing him to stumble over himself as he tried to talk quicker in the hopes of hiding it. “And, uh, I mean-not  _ with  _ Zim! I was uh,  _ hunting  _ Zim! Yeah, with, uh...Kailah? Cause uh, you know, she uh…believesinalienstoo? I mean! Not that  _ she  _ has any uh,  _ experience  _ with aliens, no! No, she uh she just uh-...  _ believes  _ that Zim is one! Yeah! Like me! Cause he is! Yup! W-we were just, uh, tracking Zim all day, yup...to see what he was, uh, up to!?”

Silence as Gaz just stared at him.

Dib could feel sweat gathering on his forehead as he tried to subtly reach behind him and feel his way to the door.

“You’re an awful liar. You know that, right?” She said, raising an unimpressed eyebrow at him.

“I am n-not!” He stuttered and squeaked in protest. Which did not make him sound at  _ all  _ convincing.

“Uh huh.” Gaz said, clearly not buying a word he said. “What happened to your glasses?”

“Oh, um...I uh  _ tripped _ ??” He found the doorknob and gripped it tightly. Reaching up with his other hand, he self consciously readjust his glasses-half hoping the motion would distract Gaz from noticing that he was trying to escape this conversation.

Gaz kept staring at him, and Dib found that he was suddenly frozen in place. His heart continued to pound away in his chest almost painfully. He could feel a single drop of sweat making its way from his hairline to his temple.

He slowly started turning the doorknob behind him.

“You know Dad hates when you go in his Lab without permission.” Gaz pointed out casually.

“I know!” Dib responded, a little too quickly and much louder than he’d meant to. “But, uh,” He cleared his throat, “I just need to fix my glasses. I’m not going to mess with anything else. He won't even know I was down there!”

Gaz raised her unimpressed eyebrow a little higher.

Dib gulped as he finally got the door unlatched. He could feel that bead of sweat now making its way down his cheek.

“You’re doing all of my chores for a year.” Gaz said in a bored tone, her eyes still burrowing into him-squinted but unblinking.

“Yeah!” Dib said, a little too enthusiastically. “Of course!” He started pulling the door open.

“And you’re bringing me with you the next time you decide to skip skool.”

“Oh, uh... _ okaaay _ ?” That actually caught him off guard.

“And you’re using your allowance money to buy Vampire Piggie Slayer III when it’s released next month.”

“What? No way-” He froze when Gaz glared harder at him. Dib sighed, relenting. “Fine. Whatever. Just, don’t tell Dad…okay?”

“Deal.” Gaz allowed the tiniest smirked to appear on her lips before turning to pick up her game controller. She unpaused her game and started playing again-officially releasing Dib from her glare.

Dib’s shoulders slumped with relief as he quickly pulled the door the rest of the way open and slipped onto the landing. He closed the door behind him with a sharp click and let out a loud sigh as he slumped against the door. 

He felt extremely grateful that his sister appeared to be in a good mood. She’d let him off pretty easy with just chores and a video game.

“Looks like she chose blackmail.” Dib mumbled as he ran a hand through his hair. He grimaced at the wetness, then wiped his now sweaty palm on his shirt with a slight frown. 

_ Then again, she’d also demanded to be brought along on the next outing?...Or was that only if it resulted in missing skool? _ He’d have to double check that part later.

He turned his attention back towards the dark and narrow staircase, trying to gather his nerves as he took in slow, even breaths. He pushed his glasses back up his nose and mentally ran over the plan again; fix the glasses, edit the code, then clean up all evidence that he’d even been down there. 

Once he felt a smidge calmer-his heart rate now closer to a calm speed, rather than that hammering it had been doing just a few moments earlier-he slipped his backpack off his shoulder and let it slide down his arm to the ground. He pushed it aside with his foot so that it was resting at the top of the landing and-hopefully-out of the way. Then he started making his way down to the Lab.

The Lab looked exactly the same as it had the night before; except now it was dimly lit by the dozen or so computer monitors that were hanging up along the different walls-instead of the bright, overhead fluorescents that had been on the night before. 

Dib honestly wasn’t sure where the light switches were-and he wasn’t about to go looking for them. He certainly couldn’t risk accidentally shutting off the power to the whole Lab! His Dad would  _ kill  _ him if that happened.

He continued to look around the poorly lit Lab-trying to familiarize himself with it-because it really was  _ so  _ rare for him to be down here alone. 

There were about eight built in lab tables scattered about the large room-which was about twice the size of the house, as it was built out under the back, front and side yards. The tables were all cluttered with countless projects at varying degrees of completion. Blueprints, flash drives, hard discs, prototypes-and even one or two objects that appeared to be finished projects-were all strewn about on the different tables in an organized chaos that only his Dad had any hopes of navigating. 

One entire wall was covered from floor to ceiling with shelves upon shelves packed tight with manilla folders-all stuffed to the brim with notes on different projects and ideas that his Dad has had or worked on over the years. Also  _ all  _ organized in some fashion that Dib could never even  _ hope  _ to decode. 

Then there were all the different machines scattered about. Dozens of them. Some were small enough that they just sat huddled together on the cluttered countertops, a few had their own personal tables, and then some were so large that they were banished to the floor-having to be pushed up against a wall wherever they would fit. 

Over half of these machines were currently whirring away as they ran one test or another-making the room feel slightly alive with the humming buzz of electricity and the soft glow of their slowly blinking lights. 

The computer monitors situated nearest the machines displayed endless streams of numbers, letters, and formulas which scrolled by in a blur-much too fast to follow. While the monitors further away on the opposite wall showed security footage of the front and back yards.

Dib made a quick mental note to go in and erase any possible footage of Zim dropping him off when he was done with fixing his glasses.

He meandered over to one of the workstations on the left-the same one he and his Dad had worked at last night. Everything was pretty much as they had left it; research papers of Mantis Shrimp scattered over the countertop, mixed with Dib’s own drawings and notes on how the glasses should look and function. 

Dib’s footsteps echoed oddly in the large, lonely room. As he walked, he could feel the hair on the back of his neck stand on end-as if he was being watched. But when he looked around the Lab again, he couldn’t spot any security cameras or any other reason for this odd, paranoid feeling. 

So he simply tried to ignore it as he focused on the contents of the workstation.

He began to riffle through the papers and prototypes for a moment, searching for something in particular. He then felt around the countertop carefully-moving the contents around as little as possible so it wouldn’t be obvious that he had been down here. 

Not finding what he was looking for up top, Dib started digging around the draws of the workstation. He’d pull one open, run his hand through it for a moment, then move on to the next when the previous one didn’t yield what he was looking for. 

In the fifth draw, he found his prize; a small tube of  _ Professor Membrane’s Patented Eyeglass Lense Liquid Glue(™) _ . 

It was almost empty. 

Dib chewed on his lip worriedly as he examined it, hoping there was enough left for the crack in his lense.

He pulled up a rolly chair then dragged the large, swiveling magnifying glass/lamp combo (that was mounted to the corner of the workstation) closer before he finally sat down. He removed his glasses and put them under the magnifying glass, then he adjusted the height of the chair, and flipped the switch to turn on the lamp. 

Dib blinked and squinted against the sudden bright light. Once his eyes adjusted, he unscrewed the glue cap and started to carefully apply the liquid to the Y shape crack in the left lense of his glasses-peering through the magnifying glass as he did. 

This little glue invention of his father’s was one of those rare inventions that was both extremely useful, and tragically under appreciated. As a liquid, it soaked into the cracks of any glass, plastic, or plexi that it was applied to. Then, as it dried, it took on the properties of the material around it and blended in seamlessly. Fixing the crack with no evidence that there ever was one! It worked absolute miracles on car windshields, and-thanks to some unknown secret ingredient-it worked with prescription lenses, too! Somehow matching the prescription  _ perfectly _ ! While also having the added benefit of making the item stronger than it was before, meaning it was less likely to crack again. 

The only downside really was it’s extremely long drying time.

Only a few minutes into his musings, Dib’s mood shifted suddenly and he let out a soft growl because the glue had run out. He was only  _ half  _ way through the Y on the outside of the lense! And he still had the  _ whole  _ inside to patch up as well! 

He wasn’t even a quarter of the way through the repairs yet...

“I’m going to need another tube.” He muttered.

He set his glasses down on the table-so they could start drying-as he pushed the chair back and stood up. He squinted around the hazy and dimly lit lab as he tried to think of where he should start looking for more glue.

“Dad has to have more of it around here somewhere…” He mumbled, as he bent over to begin searching through the rest of the draws at his current workstation. He felt around the contents within-careful not to disturb the items  _ too  _ much while in his currently half blind state. 

When the draws all came up empty, he moved on to the next lab table. He started feeling around the countertop with the same half blind caution, before eventually moving on to the draws.

Still nothing.

Dib let out another soft, frustrated growl as he started to make his way over to the third workstation. As he walked, he reached up and rubbed a fist against his irritated right eye. 

About half way to his destination, he suddenly felt a sharp and unexpected pain shoot through his right shin. Dib quickly covered his mouth to stifle his shout of pain as he stumbled back a few steps. He instinctively lifted his leg up as he reached down for it with his free hand-gripping his shin tightly. He hopped around in a tight circle before falling over and started yelling angrily-and incoherently-into the hand firmly pressed against his mouth as he landed heavily on his already bruised tailbone.

When the pain finally decided to subside-and he was able to focus on his thoughts again-he removed the hand from his mouth and quickly squinted around in the low light of the Lab before spotting the culprit: a two foot tall metal box. 

It was one of the few machines in the room not currently running any tests; which was why it was silent and dark-just sitting in the middle of the floor, pretending to be all  _ innocent _ . A small part of his mind recognized it as one of the machines that ran spectro analysis of some kind-probably used to detect minute levels of foriegn content in chemical samples, if he had to take a guess. While the majority of his attention remained  _ firmly  _ focused on just giving the inanimate machine a very malicious death glare.

Letting out  _ yet another  _ annoyed growling sigh, Dib struggled up to his feet. He was pretty sure that that bump would leave a bruise-adding to his  _ already  _ large collection of injuries from the day’s events. He threw the machine one last hard glare before eventually making his way over to the third workstation with deliberate and determined steps. He  _ refused  _ to give that stupid box the satification of seeing him limp!

He paused in front of the workstation and squinted grumpily at the countertop. 

This workstation was mostly free of the paper clutter that plagued the last two. All it held were three, quietly whirring machines-one centrifuge and two analyzers flanking it-along with a dozen sealed, and unlabeled beakers which were set in two neat rows of six and each filled with softly glowing, colorful liquids. 

Dib was more than half convinced they were just sitting there for the aesthetic of it, rather than serving any actual purpose. 

He opened up the first draw. It looked to mostly be filled with manilla folders. With a small, half shrug, he started digging through them. Mostly to see if, perhaps, there was a small tube of the glue buried somewhere towards the bottom. 

About half way through the pile of papers his hands hesitated and froze before his mind could even process why. 

Something had caught his eye and it tugged at the back of his brain, hard.

His squint intensified as he leaned in closer to try and read the blurry, handwritten lettering in the dimly lit room. 

After about ten seconds of struggling to make out the lettering, he let out a frustrated groan and simply grabbed the whole pile of folders. Not really feeling in the mood to ruin his eyesight any further with this unnecessary strain, Dib carried them back over to his original workstation-shooting a glare at the evil little machine hiding in the dark at shin level as he passed by it. 

He approached the workstation from behind and plopped the folders onto the countertop where he could find a bit of space. He then reached up to grab the magnifying/light and swung it over to him-so he could read the labels on the folders without having to bother with his still wet glasses.

The first folder’s label came into focus...it didn’t seem that interesting...or important? 

Dib started flipping through the pile feeling slightly confused. They were all different projects his Dad was most likely currently working on: Perpetual Energy Generator, Super Toast, Membracelet, Membrane Patented Waffle Iron. 

None of these seemed important enough to have caught his eye?

Then he got to the fifth folder:

**Subject: C15H27Br2N3O (Dibromide)**

**Results: Success**

“What on  _ Earth _ ?” Dib breathed. When he lifted the folder up to start flipping through it, he spotted the one below it.

**Subject: C8H18 (Gazlene)**

**Results: Success**

“Why do these have our names on them??!” He squinted at the folders for a moment, trying to think. Then he glanced over at his glasses and let out a disappointed sigh. “I should probably do that first…” He muttered as he rubbed at his right eye. He wouldn’t exactly be able to  _ read  _ the contents of the folders without them, after all. 

Dib left those two folders where they sat and carried the rest back to the other table. He carefully placed the folders back in the drawer they came from-careful to make sure they were also in the same order he’d found them. Then he continued his search for the tube of glue. 

After another ten minutes of careful searching he finally found a new, unopened tube of the lense glue in the bottom left drawer of the fourth workstation. 

He quickly made his way back to the first station and continued to patch up his glasses.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to be honest with you guys...it's going to probably be a long time before we see Kailah and Chomp again XD (just because of what I have planned for the next few chapters) HOWEVER! We should be getting some answers to some REALLY BIG questions soon so look forward to that!!
> 
> Don't forget to comment X3


	17. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ALRIGHT! 8D Warning! This chapter is 15,499 words (I'm so sorry I couldn't find a place to add an extra word to make it a nice even 15.5 lol)
> 
> Angst Ahoy!
> 
> TW eye surgery which involves needles

**Chapter 16**

As Dib waited for the glue to dry and finish repairing the lens, he typed away at a nearby computer-modifying all the coding for the different settings on his glasses. 

However,  _ without  _ said glasses, it was a very difficult, and slow process. 

Dib was forced to type much slower than he normally would-it was the only way to avoid making any mistakes in the code. And thanks to the combined annoyance of: the dry and itchy feeling that kept flaring up in his right eye, his stupid gray, colorless, hazy/blurry vision, the dimly lit Lab all around him, and the annoyingly bright screen of the computer monitor less than a foot from his face-he was having a  _ lot  _ of trouble with focusing on reading the codes right there on the screen. 

It all put so much strain on his already tired eyes; making him squint even harder just to be able to read what was  _ right  _ in front of him! 

_ And _ , to top it all off, he probably rubbed his fist against his eye more times than he had hair on his head! 

It was all super draining and exhausting work, really. If he wasn’t  _ already  _ going to sleep through the night after the day he just had, then hopefully the mental and physical strain of staring at the computer like this would be enough to override his insomnia and help him fall asleep later.

...Hopefully...

Dib let out a low groan as he rubbed the heels of his hands against both his tired eyes.  _ Probably not, knowing my luck. _ He decided to take a quick break from squinting at the computer by slouching back into the rolly chair-mumbling and grumbling under his breath-as he pressed his hands into his eyes. 

He sat there in silence, watching a multitude of vivid colors explode and dance behind his lids as the heels of his hands pressed against them. 

After about a minute, he lowered his hands again with a sigh and leaned forward-narrowing his eyes to focus back on the screen before he continued typing.

Finally-after probably the two  _ longest _ , most grueling hours of his life-he managed to finish editing the code!

With these changes; the brightness and contrast levels of the Thermal mode should be lowered to a more reasonable level-in the hope of preventing any further eye strain. 

Or-at the very least-he hoped it would expand the length of time that he could actually  _ use  _ this setting without risking going completely blind. 

He had also made it so that: One press of the Thermal button would turn it on-same as before-but Two clicks would turn on just the left lense, and Three would turn on just the right. 

He still had the Normal mode setting to use as a sort of  _ ‘off’  _ button, so he didn’t have to worry about programming that into the newest set of codes. 

Dib had also reviewed the code for Night Vision mode during that time; vaguely aware that he hadn’t had any  _ actual  _ chances to experiment with it yet. But, after a courteous glance, he had decided to dim the brightness and contrast for it as well. Just to be safe. 

However, he also decided to keep it as a single button press to turn on both lenses-after all, no real point having the ability to switch between which lens was active, considering that seeing in the dark with only one eye at a time was sorta useless. 

Besides, it’s already been proven that people can use Night Vision for hours on end with no negative effects on their vision. So, Dib wasn’t too worried about that.

And, now, Dib was  _ finally  _ ready to look over the code for the HD mode. It was...honestly a lot more complicated than the other settings. His Dad had been the one to work on the majority of this code, and it showed. 

As he reviewed it, Dib half wondered if there was even anything that he  _ could  _ change in the code that would indeed help ease up on the strain of his eyes...

What if the strain had something more to do with the lenses themselves? Like, how they displayed? Maybe the technology just wasn’t advanced enough to safely display some of these colors without damaging his eyes? What if it was the same as sitting  _ waaaay  _ too close to an old style TV screen-all pixels and very low quality? 

Or, maybe the real issue was simply the fact that human eyes just weren’t  _ meant  _ to be able to see the majority of these colors?

“What if I edit it to filter out some of the colors? Would that work?” Dib asked the coding in front of him, his brows furrowing in thought. 

He then hummed thoughtfully as he propped his head up with one hand and started drumming the fingers of the other on the desk.  _ taptaptaptap. _ His legs have also been bouncing rapidly on and off for the past two hours-the added movements honestly helped him concentrate past his every tiring vision and mind. Speaking of which; he closed his eyes to let them rest as he thought through his options-continuing to drum his fingers and let his legs bounce at whatever speed they felt like.

“If the strain is coming from the fact that my eyes aren’t  _ made  _ to interpret over half these colors, then getting rid of a few of the unneeded ones could make a  _ huge  _ difference, right? But...if I filter them out at random, I’d risk getting rid of the ones that actually allow me to  _ see  _ Chomp…”  _ taptaptaptap taptaptaptap _

Dib paused as he realized he wasn’t even sure  _ which  _ part of the color spectrum the Loughran actually  _ resided  _ in. His brows furrowed again. Was it the Ultraviolet or Infrared? Or something further out on the spectrum-like,  _ Gamma Rays _ ? 

“No, that’d be stupid.”  _ taptaptaptap. _

“They show up with Thermal Imaging...so that would have to mean Infrared, wouldn’t it?”  _ taptaptaptap _ “Or, was that only because they have body heat?” 

“They supposedly aren’t visible to anything else besides their host, or Bondmate...or whatever. Except for supposedly Mantis Shrimp? And...whatever Zim is? So, that would rule out Ultraviolet, right? Since birds and stuff can see in that wavelength?”  _ taptaptaptap _ “But...there  _ has  _ to be other animals- _ and aliens _ -that can see heat signatures too... _ right _ ? Like, I swear snakes have heat vision!? And they  _ can’t  _ be the only ones…”  _ taptaptaptap taptaptaptap “ _ So...maybe Chomp isn’t as invisible as they say they are?? Or- _ think _ they are?”  _ taptaptaptap _ “Or...maybe only technology is sophisticated enough to actually pick up their body heat?...But, no, that doesn’t make any sense…”  _ taptaptaptap.  _

_ Maybe it’s more complicated than that? Like, maybe they live  _ within  _ the color spectrum itself, not outside it? But, they’re so well hidden within it, that most things just can’t see them?? But, wait, then-...what even makes them become visible to their  _ hosts _???  _

What if Kailah couldn’t actually  _ see  _ Chomp, and only  _ thought  _ she could because of the  _ Bond _ ??

Ugh. That made his head hurt.

_ “ _ Plus!” He blurted out, trying to get himself away from that train of a headache. “They were  _ clearly  _ only a few degrees cooler than a human-and even  _ Zim _ , who is  _ obviously  _ cold blooded, showed up pretty brightly with my glasses! So,  _ surely  _ if something  _ organically  _ had heat vision, then it’d be able to see a Loughran too,  _ right _ ??” 

Or maybe Dib just didn’t understand how Thermal Imaging worked?? Or how animals could even  _ see  _ heat signatures? Or how the color spectrum as a whole even worked? Or how these ‘Bonds’ worked? Or- _ again _ -maybe the Loughran just wasn’t as invisible as they thought they were!???! 

_Man, this is so frustrating!_ Dib dug his fingers into his hair with a frustrated growl. “I hate not being able to come up with any concrete answers!” _I wish there was some way I could figure this out! But there_ isn’t _any!_

_ Or was there? _ Dib slowly removed the hand from his head as a thought hit him and he opened his eyes again to squint at the computer.

“...I wonder if Kailah would let me borrow Chomp for some experiments…” He mumbled wistfully. He propped his head back up with one fist as the fingers on his other started to pick up their drumming once more. His legs started to pick up a tiny bit of speed.

Perhaps a bit of trial and error? To see what colors he could write out of the code while still seeing the Loughran in full HD quality? That would probably solve the issue of overtaxing his eyes. But, it’d also probably take several hours of playing with the code-turning different parts off, then back on again one at a time-just to see which sections of the color spectrum were safe for him to cut out, without losing any actual visual quality on Chomp. 

Maybe he actually  _ should  _ download the code onto his laptop then? That way he could play with it at skool, or the park-or, anywhere really-without having to worry about his Dad asking too many questions about Dib constantly begging to use the Lab’s computers to modify the code? 

But he’d still have to get Kailah and Chomp to agree to help him first...

_ Actually _ , Dib mused, _ I doubt it would be that hard _ .  _ When the two of them found out that I could see Chomp with my glasses; Chomp had seemed more impressed than annoyed. And, if I was reading her reaction correctly, Kailah almost looked like she approved of it? _

Then again, it was possible that he could have misread that expression on her face. She  _ had  _ been pretty hard to read just about all day...thanks to the turmoil of emotions she and Chomp were both struggling with-plus the whole, ‘almost dying’ thing...and probably, the concussion didn’t help any.

He sighed.  _ taptaptap. bouncebouncebounce. _

Most likely, she was simply astonished that he’d managed to show up with an invention that actually allowed him to see the Loughran; and less than ten hours after asking her how it could be possible for him to do just that.

But, then  _ again _ , neither of them  _ had  _ outright showed any sort of disapproval…

And it  _ was  _ Kailah who had given him the idea to use Thermal Imaging in the first place-as well as suggesting he research Mantis Shrimp. 

If she didn’t want him to be able to see Chomp, she wouldn’t have mentioned either of those things to him, right? 

Dib tried to ignore the voice in his head that tried to remind him that she had been a  _ bit  _ out of it at the time-due to Chomp running away-and she may not have actually  _ shared  _ that information with him if she had been of sound mind...

But,  _ surely  _ the two of them would agree to help him perfect the glasses, right? Especially if they knew that-as they were right now-the glasses were damaging his eyesight...right?

Kailah would at least want to help...right? Even if Chomp was hesitant to agree? 

_ Because… _

“Because that’s...that’s what friends do for each other, right?” Dib mumbled uncertaintly, now only taping a single finger meloncolonly on the desk as his head leaned heavier on the fist propping it up. Self doubt started to consume him as one leg wiggled the smallest bit under him. “They help each other solve problems, right? They help each other out when the other needs it?”  _ tap. tap. tap. _ “Friends...are supposed to be there when the other needs them, right?” 

_ Plus, I practically saved her life; tricking Zim into flying us out to Ohio like that. She owes me, right? _

“No. That doesn’t sound right.” Dib groaned and reached up with his free hand to run his fingers through his hair then rub at his exhausted eyes. “Friendship isn’t supposed to be a tally of who owes whom what...it's, supposed to be equal parts give and take, and mutually beneficial for all parties involved...right?” He slowly lowered his hand back down to the desk. “At least...that’s how it's portrayed in most TV shows and movies…” He exhaled softly. 

_ It’s not like I have any personal experience in that matter... _

He paused, then sighed again-louder and more forcefully- as he leaned back in the rolly chair, running both hands through his hair now in frustration.  _ Why is this all so complicated!? It shouldn’t be, right?? I mean-yeah, in shows and such there’s usually  _ some  _ sort of conflict, but I always thought that was for the drama, or plot purposes...I never thought  _ real  _ friendship would be this complicated, too! _

Real Friendship. 

Could he...could he even call it that? 

He’d only really known Kailah for about three days now...before that...he hadn’t even given her a second thought at skool. 

But now?

Now it was like...he didn’t want to go back to before he’d officially talked to her. In fact, now he wished he’d talked to her back on her first day of skool! He felt...happy?

Someone  _ saw  _ him. 

Someone  _ listened  _ to him. 

Someone  _ believed  _ him. 

Someone-...

_ She _ talked to him for  _ hours  _ without once calling him a  _ freak _ , or a  _ weirdo _ , or  **_crazy_ ** ! 

Kailah saw Dib as the over enthusiastic and socially awkward kid that he was-and didn’t immediately reject him! 

She actually listened to him talk about paranormal stuff! And she didn’t just _hear_ what he was saying, she _listened_! She _pondered_ it! She looked at all the facts he presented and actually changed her mind and confessed that _he convinced her that Bigfoot was_ **real**!!! Dib was _still_ shocked at just how _ecstatic_ that memory made him feel!

She...she didn’t immediately reject him like all the others. She gave him a chance, and she, she actually seemed to like talking with him?

Dib lowered his hands to his lap and stared at them a moment; lost in thought as he tried to sort out all these complicated emotions that were suddenly swirling around in his head. The resentment towards his classmates for the years of being rejected and teased. The desperate need to be understood and acknowledged by his Father. The loathing towards Gaz for constantly mocking him and blaming him whenever something didn’t go her way. This...weird and new feeling that Kailah brought out. One that he couldn’t quite pinpoint or give a name to yet. 

This new feeling...really made him look at his past interactions with people in a whole new light-albeit, a negative one. 

This new feeling was so much  _ better  _ than the others. It really made those old feelings feel  _ so  _ much worse by comparison! How could they do that to him? How could they keep pushing him away or brushing him off or bullying him? How could they keep ignoring him or keep calling him a crazy, freak liar!? 

...How come no one else had ever made him feel this positive feeling before? It...it wasn’t  _ fair _ !

Dib tried harder to pinpoint exactly what it was that he was feeling. He was pretty sure it was connected to the strange feeling of happiness he’s been experiencing off and on the last few days...

“Belonging maybe?”  _ Companionship? _

Yeah...those sounded right. 

He felt like he  _ belonged _ . He felt like someone actually  _ accepted _ him. 

For the first time in his life. He felt like he had a friend...

Dib winced slightly and rubbed at his irritated right eye-it had started throbbing again, though he couldn’t be sure what triggered it this time. Either way, the sensation pulled him from his thoughts long enough to notice that both his legs were going about a thousand miles a minute. 

With a small sigh, he pressed one hand firmly on each leg and forced them to stop. Momentarily grimacing, as the act dredged up the memories of Zim constantly striking out at him in the ship today while demanding he ‘stop that infernal leg jiggling’.

“That stupid alien jerk.” Dib muttered under his breath, his fingers digging into the fabric of his jeans as he also remembered having to give back those gloves. He really would have  _ loved  _ to show those to his Dad! Imagine how impressed he’d be, seeing real  _ alien  _ proof! And imagine what stuff they could have done with such a material-if they ever found a way to replicate it, that is. They could probably make entire lab suits out of it! That super lightweight and heat resistant material could also be used for so much more! Like; firefighter uniforms, welders gloves, space suits, fireproof buildings maybe? 

Either way, Dib bet it could really save a lot of lives if utilized properly.

He looked back up towards the computer. His eyes squinting and darting around the screen for a second as he tried to force himself to focus back on the task at hand. He grabbed the mouse so he could double check that everything was complete and correct. 

He even triple checked that the changes had all been saved properly, just to satisfy his paranoia. 

Once he was content that the changes and everything else was in order, he gave a single, sharp nod. The Thermal and Night modes should be much better on his eyes with these changes; he was certain of that. And, he was also feeling fairly confident in his decision to hold off on making any changes to the HD mode-at least, until he could test it with the Loughran around.

So now, there was only one thing left to do.

Dib placed his hands on the desk and lifted his feet up just the tiniest bit. He braced himself. Then gave the desk a hard shove. 

He felt a small thrill of joy wash over him as the rolling chair shot off in the opposite direction. The tiny adrenaline rush helped rinse out any of the remaining bitter taste from his mouth that came from dwelling on those stupid negative emotions.

Looking over his shoulder, he used his feet to guide the chair back towards the workstation where his glasses sat. As he approached his destination, he dragged both his shoes against the linoleum floor to slow his roll-causing a very loud, squealing noise to echo around the large room. 

Dib flinched at the noise. 

It was  _ very  _ reminiscent of sneakers on a gym floor.

He spun to face the table and adjusted the chair’s height as he scooted closer. He then leaned forward and lowered his nose to the edge of the desk as he squinted and gently poked at his glasses under the desk lamp.

They  _ seemed  _ dry and whole. At least, the left lens held no hint of its former damage...

Smiling, he sat up and grabbed the glasses. He unfolded them, then pushed them onto his face. Glancing around the lab, he tested that they were indeed still functional as normal glasses. 

Everything looked crisp and clear! Albeit, still dimly lit with that worrying colorless haze on the right...but still, a  _ huge  _ improvement compared to the past couple of hours when he didn’t even have them on!

Dib quickly reached up and started going through the settings, testing each one to make sure they still worked. 

“YES!” He shouted loudly-startling even himself at the sudden, unexpected outburst.  _ But _ ! Both lenses lit up equally!! They were both working perfectly now that the crack was fixed!! 

Dib’s triumphant grin shrank to a soft frown as his glasses slid down his nose slightly. 

“Oh, yeah...” He huffed.  _ The frames are still badly bent. _ He rolled his eyes as he realized that he had actually managed to temporarily forget about that tiny- _ super annoying _ -detail. He winced slightly as his right eye twinged painfully with the eye roll. He pulled the glasses off again and sat them back under the magnifying glass/lamp as he rubbed at his eye. 

He then pushed the chair back a bit and stood up. He walked away from the desk-still rubbing his eye-and went in search for the Hot Box so he could go about fixing the frames. 

He was about half way across the room-squinting at the blurriness around him-when he realized he could have put his glasses  _ back on  _ now that they were fixed! 

Dib paused to facepalm his own stupidity. He eventually chalked it up to the long list of things that had Not Gone Right today before he sighed and dragged his hand exasperatedly down his face-letting it fall back to his side like a sack of potatoes. He then continued to walk forward. He really did not have the patience at this point to bother going back to get the glasses  _ now _ .

Thankfully, the Hot Box wasn’t hard to find at all-Dib and his Dad had used it just last night while creating the glasses-so he knew exactly where to find it. Along the side wall; to the right of the bookshelves stuffed with folders. He easily carried it back to the workstation and set it down on the countertop before plugging it in. 

Dib sat down in the rolly chair and started drumming his hands on his legs as he waited; grateful that the Hot Box would only take a few minutes to get warmed up. 

Once it was ready to use, he picked his glasses up and submerged them into the tub of heated glass beads. Carefully removing and resubmerging them as he played with the frames. 

It only took about five minutes of gentle manipulation before he felt they were ready to try on. Dib hesitated only for a second before he put the glasses back on his face. 

The triumphant grin easily returned. They felt good as new!

Dib stood and unplugged the Hot Box so it could have time to cool off, then he sat back down and pushed the chair away from the workstation with a few enthusiastic kicks. He felt that funny flutter in his gut again as he made his way back towards the computer. He allowed himself to enjoy it, letting out a small laugh as he sped backwards through the Lab. 

When he arrived back at the computer, it was all Serious Business again as he picked up a small cable with one hand and took his glasses off with the other. He then plugged the cable into a port on his glasses in one smooth motion. He placed them both down on the desk and started tapping away at the keyboard-beginning the download process for the upgrades he had made. 

As he waited for that to load, he flew back to the workstation on the rolly chair-letting out another joyful laugh as he accidently started spinning dizzily towards his destination. When he arrived, he started to clean up all the evidence that he’d ever been there. 

He resealed the tube of glue before putting it, and the Hot Box, back where he’d found them. He then double checked all the stations he’d messed with-to make sure everything was as it should be-as he made his way back towards his original workstation. 

He made sure all the papers on Mantis Shrimp-as well as his blueprints for the glasses-were all still in the same, scattered mess across the countertop that he had originally found/left them in the night before.

He paused for a moment in his cleaning, glancing over at the two folders that were still sitting on the counter by the base of the magnifying glass/lamp. He tried to ignore the weird, anxious paranoid twist that rose up in his gut at the mere sight of them. 

He shook his head as he tried to force himself not to theorize on what could be hidden behind the covers. 

“I’ll be able to read them in a second, anyway. I just have to finish with my glasses first.” He told himself sternly.

He turned back towards the computer, still trying to force himself to focus on the task at hand. He was so close to being done! He couldn’t get distracted  _ now _ . He couldn’t afford to think about the two mysterious folders that had his and Gaz’s full names on them. Nope. Not thinking about those two  _ mysterious  _ folders that had been totally hidden away in a drawer. Not thinking about two  _ random  _ folders that he’s never seen before in his life! Nope.  _ Totally  _ not assuming their Dad’s been running  _ science experiments  _ on them without telling them! Nope, nope, nope. Not thinking about  _ any  _ of that!

Dib took careful and deliberate steps back towards the computer-counting each one under his breath as he tried to distract himself from the folders, and their stupid, mysterious contents. He dragged the chair noisily behind him in the hopes of an added distraction as he kept his eyes squinted and fixed on the slowly approaching computer.

Thankfully, he found his attention successfully redirected when he read ‘Download Complete’ in a large font on the monitor. He felt himself grinning as he quickly swung the chair around and tucked it under the desk-making sure it was back to its original height-before unplugged his glasses and eagerly pushing them onto his face. 

Dib quickly held his breath in anticipation as he activated Thermal mode. 

One click and both lenses lit up with the familiar multitude of blues, greens, and oranges! The colors showed that the Lab was a fairly cool room-with the occasional spot of heat coming from the various machines. Dib also happily noted that the brightness and contrast were both at a much more manageable level! Even with his already injured and tired eyes, the change in visuals was pretty obvious; it put a lot less strain on his eyes than it had before.

“Now for the real test.” He whispered. 

Second click, the left lens remained multi colored as the right returned to normal vision! And there was absolutely no indication that the lense had ever even been damaged!

Third click and the active lens flipped sides just like it should!

“YES! Perfect!” He grinned and fist pumped excitedly as he did a happy little victory dance.

Dib then switched on Night mode before the mix of colors could have a chance to damage his right eye any further. He eagerly looked around the Lab as both lenses flared to life to reveal a comfortably bright, black-and-white world. All the details of the room were crisp and clear; allowing him to get his first good look at the Basement Lab since entering it a few hours ago. 

He turned to look back at the computer monitor-squinting as a square of almost uncomfortably bright light came into view.

He switched the glasses back to Normal mode-so he could actually  _ see  _ what was on the monitor-before he leaned over the desk and reached for the mouse. He began closing out all the programs he’d used for the upgrades and modifications, before bringing up all the files that had previously been displayed on the monitor-effectively hiding all traces of his tampering on this computer.

He gave one more quick glance around the Lab-making sure everything was as he had found it. It all  _ looked  _ to be in the same, organized chaos. 

But then, he spotted the monitors across the room. The ones that displayed the live security footage of the front and back yard. And he suddenly remembered that he still had to edit out Zim dropping him off. 

Dib groaned. 

The mystery folders would have to wait,  _ again _ !

He started walking across the Lab. 

Hopefully, editing the security feed to loop over itself seamlessly for the three or so minutes it had taken Zim to land, drop off Dib, and leave again should be extremely easy compared to the coding in his glasses.  _ Especially  _ since he was now wearing said glasses, and could actually  _ see  _ what he was doing! 

In fact, when it was all said and done, it had probably ended up taking Dib  _ less  _ time to edit the footage, than it had for the actual alien encounter to occur.

But don’t think for a moment that Dib actually went and completely deleted the only recorded evidence of an actual alien in his backyard! Oh, no. He obviously made, and sent, an encrypted version of the footage to his own personal email first.  _ Then _ , he erased all backend evidence that such an email was even sent. 

_ Just  _ in case he needed said proof for later. He could already think of a few people from the Swollen Eyeball who would lose their minds over such a video! And he also knew he might need the proof later-especially if his gut instinct to not trust Zim turned out to be true.

Sure, Zim was in his disguise, and the ship was invisible...but the video still showed Dib and Zim appear out of nowhere, talk for a bit, then Zim disappearing as Dib began to pace around the backyard for the next fifteen minutes.

“Wait...should I edit that out too?” Dib watched the recorded image of himself frantically wandering around the backyard, arms flailing occasionally all the while muttering to himself. He sighed and ran a hand down his face, feeling embarrassed. “Yeah. I should.” 

And so he did.

Then. 

He  _ finally  _ allowed himself to turn his attention back to the two mysterious folders with his and Gaz’s full names on them.

“Now,” He said with some finality as he arrived back at the workstation and stood over the two folders. “Why would Dad have you hidden away down here?”  _ Hidden away in a drawer with projects he’s currently working on, and not on one of the shelves, lost amongst the thousands of other folders? _ Dib angled the lamp closer-like a cop about to integrate a perp-then took a deep breath in to steady his nerves.

He flipped open the one that had his name on it first, obviously. 

Oddly enough, the thing that caught his eye wasn’t the multitude of mathematical equations scrawled on the front page, but instead, a polaroid picture paperclipped to the inside cover.

_ A baby picture of  _ me _? _

Dib unclipped the polaroid and held it up curiously. He looked...asleep? Definitely at peace-with his eyes closed and a small smile on his face as he sucked on his thumb. He was swaddled up in a bright blue blanket with the smallest tuff of black hair atop his head. He was cute-if he didn’t say so himself-though...his head  _ did  _ look a  _ little  _ big...for an infant.

Dib grimaced and quickly shook that thought away. 

He flipped the picture over. On the back was his full name; C15H27Br2N3O (Dibromide), along with his birthday, June 12th. They were both neatly written with blue ink in his father’s penmanship. 

Feeling even more confused than before, Dib placed the photo back under the paperclip then turned his attention to the bulk of the paperwork within. He started curiously flipping through the pages-it was all pretty much just,  _ very  _ complex science jargon? Formulas, long complex chemical chains (some of which even  _ Dib  _ didn’t recognize?), lots and lots of math, a few handwritten notes that basically equated to super vague ‘Notes to Self’ type messages. There were also quite a few strange symbols scattered about the different pages-ones that were oddly familiar and completely foriegn to him at the same time? Something in the back of his mind said he should recognize them? But he couldn’t even begin to interpret their meanings...

As he dug further into the folder, his curiosity and confusion both rose-causing his brows to furrow tightly. His eyes darted over the different papers as he tried to interpret all of the information on them. He was so focused on reading-and trying to make sense of it all-that he momentarily forgot all about the fact that he wasn’t even supposed to be down here in the Lab. That if he was found snooping like this, he’d be grounded for life. 

Not to mention that it was  _ well  _ past dinner time at this point, and he hasn’t eaten or drank anything all day. 

But he didn’t care.

He was so focused on the contents of the folder. He even found himself able to ignore his damaged vision for the first time in hours as he scanned each page; his mind fully focused on absorbing all the information in front of him. 

The investigator in him  _ finally  _ had a solid mystery that it could sink its teeth into and actually try to solve! All the information was right in front of him, all he had to do was read it and connect the dots!

His eyes continued to scan the papers as he flipped through them. His fingers drummed rapidly on the countertop beside him as he paused on each page. He was completely focused on absorbing all the information on each one that he could. All his attention was working on this new puzzle-trying to figure out exactly what any of it meant. How it all fit together...what any of it had to do with  _ him _ .

When he reached about the last third of the folder, he suddenly froze. A very simple sentence-written neatly in his Dad’s handwriting-sat innocently at the top of the page.

Dib quickly slammed the folder closed, panic and fear gripping his chest. 

He stood there for a second, mentally screaming in denial as he stared wide eyed, and unseeing down at his own name on the front cover of the folder. 

_ No. That can’t be right. No. That  _ can’t  _ really beee what I just read! No, no...This, this can’t be happening. No! No. This.  _ **_This_ ** _. CanNOT. Be  _ **_happening_ ** _! NO…! _

Then, as if on autopilot, he shakily pushed his folder to the side and reached for the second one-the one with Gaz’s name. Even while his brain was still screaming in denial and unable to fully process what it was that he had just read, he was opening Gaz’s file to compare and confirm if it said the same thing. If it was true. 

Again, there was a baby picture paperclipped to the inside cover.

And Dib felt his stomach drop a foot and his knees grow weak. He gripped the countertop with both hands to try and steady himself as he stared down at the photograph and all the implications that came with it.

A baby picture of his little sister; squinty baby eyes that appeared to almost be glaring at the person holding the camera while the flash went off. Wispy purple hair sticking up in all directions-as if it had a mind of its own. She was half bundled up in a lavender colored blanket. On the back was her full name and birthday-handwritten in their Dad’s penmanship in that same blue ink; C8H18 (Gazlene) November 1st.

Dib’s whole body shook as he realized: All the paperwork inside basically said the exact same thing, too.

He slammed Gaz’s folder closed and pulled his own forward to lay on top of it. He then gathered them both up and gripped them tightly to his chest as he tore up the stairs as fast as his bruised and sore legs would carry him. 

“GAZ!” He shouted as he kicked the basement door aside. “Gaz!” He then stumbled over his forgotten backpack-which was still sitting at the top of the landing. “Gaz, you won't  _ believe  _ what I found!” He kept shouting as he frantically started to hop around in a circle as he kicked his leg out to the side-trying to dislodge one of the bag’s straps that had somehow managed to ensnare itself around his leg. “Gaz!” He kept a tight grip on the folders with both arms, clutching them to his chest as his leg continued to thrash about. He started hopping backwards to try and get away from it, but of course it just followed him. “Gaz!” He looked over to his sister with wide, panicked eyes, she hadn’t appeared to have moved in the past few hours. “Gaz! Look!” The entangled leg continued to flail about as if it had a mind of its own as he tried to hop towards her on the other. “Gaz!” He was honestly having a bit of a panic attack as he finally tripped and fell onto his face-clutching the folders tighter so he wouldn’t drop them. “Look!” He struggled back up to his feet and started to kick his ensnared leg about again as he hopped spun in place once more-for all intents and purposes he looked like a cat with a balloon stuck to its side. “Gaz! Look!” He shouted over his shoulder at her as he whirled about still a dozen or more feet away from her. “Gaz!” 

Dib was so worked up about his discovery, that he honestly wasn’t even able to think clearly enough to just take  _ three seconds  _ to hold the stupid folders with one hand and bend down to properly unwrap the stupid bag from his leg. So, he just continued to call out to Gaz over and over as he jumped, spun, and flailed about like a mad man.

“ _ What _ .” Gaz finally snapped in an exasperated and irritated tone from the couch. She could tell by her brother’s crazy, insistent, and desperate tone that she wouldn’t be able to play her game in peace-at least not until he said what he wanted to-so she relented and paused her game to glare at him with one raised eyebrow as he continued to flail uselessly about. She normally would have found his struggle funny to watch, but he had interrupted her game so rudely and loudly that she wasn’t really in the mood to enjoy his misery.

“Look!” Dib held the folders up at arms length as he quickly tried to stumble forward again, dragging the bag along with him and stumbling over it a couple of times as he tried to cross the distance between them. “Look!” He said again, practically thrusting the folders into her face at the same moment he finally managed to get the backpack-and unfortunately his shoe, too-off his leg. Launching both across the house and into the kitchen with one last final, desperate kick. He didn’t even have the brain cells to spare to worry if any of his stuff broke as the bag landed with a loud thud, nor could he find even a second to fuss over his suddenly shoeless foot. He just panickly continued to try and get Gaz to take the folders. “Gaz! Dad had these  _ hidden  _ in one of his work desks!”

“I thought you said you wouldn’t-”

“Now’s not the time Gaz!  _ Look _ !” He didn’t even care that his voice cracked, or that his sister was glaring at him with the intent to kill after he interrupted her. “According to these we’re-! We’re  _ CLONES _ !!”

“... _ what _ ?” She deadpanned. Sounding more annoyed than anything else-while also giving him a very strong _ ‘stop bothering me’ _ glare. 

“Just look at them Gaz!” Dib continued to wave the folders in front of her as he desperately tried to make her take them and read them for herself. 

“Dib! Get those  _ stupid  _ papers out of my  **face** !” She snapped as she suddenly reached to swat them out of his hands.

“Gaz,  _ wait _ !” Dib yelped in fear as he fumbled forward and almost dropped one of the folders. He panickedly struggled to keep all the papers within as he desperately hugged it to his chest. “I’m serious! Just look!” He went to wave both folders around again before deciding it was best just to slap them down onto the coffee table in front of her. Thankfully, none of the pages went flying with the violent motion. 

Gaz didn’t even glance at them, just continued glaring at Dib with murderous intent.

Her brother either didn’t notice, or was too worked up to care. He flipped both folders open at the same time, showing her their baby pictures. “Look!” He jabbed his fingers at them and gave her a hard, determined look until she finally relented with an eye roll, and looked down. He then started frantically turning the pages within both folders. “See?! Look! And here!!” He kept flipping through the papers, too fast for Gaz to really take in any of the information he was pointing at-it also looked like he was just pointing at things randomly within each folder... 

Dib continued glancing nervously between the papers and the unimpressed/annoyed expression on Gaz’s face. He fervently pointed out different math equations, chemical formulas, and the weird ‘familiar yet unrecognizable’ symbols-all the while demanding that she truly  _ look  _ at them before quickly moving on to the next one. 

As Gaz’s expression slowly became more and more annoyed and murderous with each glance Dib gave her, he frantically tried to find the handwritten note that had made his blood run cold down stairs. “Right here! See! Right here, it says ‘Cloning attempt  _ eight  _ finally successful’! ‘I shall name him  _ Dibromide’ _ !” Dib didn’t even care that his voice was shrill. He also had no time to analyze if that tight feeling in his gut was fear or excitement-though, if he gave himself even a second to think about it, he’d realize it was probably both. “And here!” He jabbed at her folder as he located the same note “‘Ninth attempt successful. I shall name her  _ Gazlene’ _ ! Gaz! We’re  _ clones _ !!”

Gaz let out an annoyed groan as she rolled her eyes-the last bit of her patience finally left her. “Yeah,  _ so _ ?” She gripped her controller tightly with white knuckle anger as she unpaused her game. She leaned to the left so she could see the TV around Dib’s big, stupid head. She even turned the volume up two notches-in the hopes that Dib would take the hint and leave her alone so she could play her game.

Dib stared at her, dumbfounded and speechless. How could she be so  _ dismissive  _ and  _ uncaring  _ about such a life changing  **bomb** !? 

His legs finally collapsed under him as he landed on his knees next to the coffee table. 

He sat on the floor, just staring at her in disbelief...feeling numb.

Gaz did an amazing job ignoring him as she played her game. Though, really, she had a lot of practice ignoring her brother’s crazed and over dramatic rants, as well as his stupid, out of the box crackpot theories. This wasn’t really that much different from all the other times he’d come to her spouting nonsense about nymphs or elfs or aliens.

Several minutes passed before Dib realized Gaz’s response hadn’t been one of annoyed dismissal. 

‘ _ Yeah,  _ so?’

He struggled to find his voice as he slowly looked up at her. “You...you  _ knew _ ?” He accused in an offended stage whisper.

Gaz gave a simple, uncaring shrug. “I guessed. Like,  _ two  _ years ago.”  _ taptaptap  _ went the game controller as his sister had this calm, focused look on her face.

“You...you  _ guessed _ ?” Dib just blinked at her, his mind slowly getting a weird, staticy numbness that made thinking difficult. It felt just like how his right eye saw. Foggy. Unfocused. Colorless.

“Dib,” Gaz said slowly-like she was talking to a small, simple child-all the while keeping her eyes on the TV. “we have  _ dozens  _ of family photos. But no hint of a mom. Every time either of us asked Dad about it, he always gave us some vague excuse, and quickly changed the subject.” She paused for a moment to focus on solving a puzzle in the game.

“Dad is also the world's most  _ renowned  _ scientist.” Gaz continued as a cutscene started. “He is famous for making inventions and discoveries in  _ every single field of science _ . On top of the  _ dozens  _ of doctorates he has in different studies like: technology, robotics, physics, mathematics, chemistry, geology, and astrology; he also has several in  _ biology _ .” She paused as she fought a particularly tough opponent on screen, then continued a few moments later as she started gathering the loot from winning. “Honestly, how did you  _ not  _ figure it out? You’re the one who’s all into that stupid scifi stuff. And the clues are literally  _ every _ where.”

Dib just continued to stare numbly at his sister-his mind split between recognizing her points as the truth, and being slowly consumed by his current existential crisis of denial. 

_ Wait, can I even  _ call  _ her my sister!? Are we even  _ related! _? If we’re both clones, shouldn’t we look identical?? Or are we cloned from two different people!? Who are we clones  _ of!? _?  _

He’d already forgotten what the papers said about that. He’d actually forgotten practically  _ everything  _ that was written on those papers. He could only remember the emotions of fear, excitement, denial, and confusion they made him feel as he read them.

“Ugh, did that break you or something?” Gaz said with disgust, as Dib remained silently staring at her. She scooted a bit further to her left on the couch when Dib didn’t give any indication that he was going to respond. She gave him one last wrinkled nose look before scoffing and going back to ignoring him as she played her game.

Dib wasn’t entirely sure how much time had passed. It felt like half a day at  _ least  _ in his current numb state. Though, most likely, it was probably less than an hour and a half. Still, he just simply sat there-zoned out and staring unseeingly at the two open folders sitting on the coffee table. His mind blank, and numb, and staticy. His right eye had started to throb again at some point; just enough for him to feel it, but not enough to fully break him from his trance.

He probably would have stayed there all night, if a soft click from the front door hadn’t finally pulled him back to his senses. 

He looked up slowly.

Gaz was still playing her game. She either hadn’t heard the sound, or was flat out ignoring it. Her eyes remained glued to the television as her thumbs tapped away on the controller.

Dib apathetically turned his head to look towards the front door; his brain still muddled as he vaguely tried to remember why he was even sitting on the floor in the first place.

Professor Membrane stepped into the house-casually and confidently as can be-completely unaware what he was about to walk into. He closed the door behind him-a soft click indicating that it automatically locked as it latched shut. 

He looked around the living room with both fists proudly resting on his hips as he stood tall and straight. He was wearing his usual outfit; the thick goggles with their bright blue reflective lenses, his white lab coat-the one that was always buttoned up tightly and seemed to always purposely obscure the lower half of his face--along with his all-purpose black rubber gloves and thick, non-slip black steel toed boots. 

And even though most of his Dad’s features were obscured per usual-and Dib wasn’t exactly in a  _ sound  _ frame of mind-the boy still found himself unconsciously scrutinizing and analyzing his father’s body language. 

Dib was easily able to note that, by the way his Dad’s eyebrows tilted above his goggles, and how he stood by the door-with his shoulders proudly tilted back, fists on his hips, legs shoulder width apart, and his head held high-his Dad was in a good mood. 

Like, a  _ really  _ good mood.

Great. Just, great. Dib’s world was falling apart around him, and his Dad actually came home for once- _ two days in a row _ -and looked to be in a super good mood!

“Evening Children.” Professor Membrane said cheerfully in his deep voice. “How was your day?”

“Good.” Gaz replied distractedly as she continued focusing on her game.

Dib just silently stared at his Dad with an expression that seemed to scream ‘I haven’t slept in a  _ week  _ and it’s all your fault’.

“Good, good.” Membrane said, still in that cheerful tone, as he made his way towards the kitchen. He paused a moment to give Dib’s backpack and lone shoe a curious look, before nudging them out of the way with his boot. Then he fully disappeared into the other room. “Did you finish all your homework?” He called out casually, sounding more like he was reading a line from a script, than genuinely curious.

“Yes, Dad.” Gaz replied in a similar wooden tone as she played her game.

There was another pause as the sound of the refrigerator door opening and closing made its way into the living room-closely followed by the sound of a cupboard doing the same. 

“And you, Son?” The question drifted lazily into Dib’s ears, floated and echoed around in his brain for a moment, before disappearing into smoke.

“Wh-...What?” Dib struggled out, trying to force his brain to come back into focus as he reached up and rubbed at his irritated eye under his glasses.

“Homework.” His Dad said firmly from the kitchen-along with some beeps from the microwave. “Have you finished it?” The microwave started humming.

“Oh…” Dib glanced at the papers on the coffee table then pulled his eyes away just as quickly. He tried to force himself to look at the doorway to the kitchen. And  _ nowhere  _ else. “Um...not yet?” He said lamely, as his hands wrestled each other in his lap.

“Tsk.” Came the familiar sound of disapproval from the other room. It was soon followed by the sound of the microwave beeping once-Dib could clearly hear the loud clicking sound of the door being opened to prevent any further alarm from the machine. There were several more sounds of rummaging about before the unmistakable rapid clicking of a spoon repeatedly hitting against ceramic echoed from the kitchen. 

“It’s a little late for it not to be finished yet.” His Dad’s voice had that all too familiar ring of fatherly disappointment to it.

“I know.” Dib sighed. Then he clenched his fists in his lap with sudden determination. “Hey, Dad. Can we talk?” He tried to keep his voice even and casual.

“Sure, Son.” Membrane emerged from the kitchen with a steaming mug of hot chocolate-one that was overloaded with large fluffy marshmallows. He stood in the entryway between the two rooms, leaning ever so slightly onto the door jam in a rare show of casual relaxation as he gave Dib a polite and curious look.

Dib hesitated. He glanced at Gaz-who was pointedly ignoring them both as she focused on her game. He looked down at the papers-almost losing his resolve at the mere sight of them-but quickly steeled himself as he brought his gaze back to his Dad.

...His... _ creator _ ...

Professor Membrane tilted his head slightly, a bit of concern starting to creep into his curiosity as a single eyebrow perked up just the tiniest bit. He started to gently swirl the deep magenta mug in his hand to help it cool as he waited.

“What is this!?” Dib suddenly slammed his hand down on the coffee table with a loud  _ SMACK.  _ It came out a bit more aggressive then he’d meant it to, but he decided to roll with it-lest he let his fear prevent him from gaining any answers to all the questions that had been building up for the past hour or so. He stood up on shaky legs as pins and needles erupted through them-it really shouldn’t have been a surprise that they had fallen asleep after being sat on for so long. Dib did his best to ignore the discomfort as he gritted his teeth and grabbed the folders. He brought them up and around and pointed them at his  _ Creator  _ as if they were loaded weapons.

Professor Membrane just raised that one eyebrow ever so slightly higher, it was the only movement he made besides the gently swirling mug. 

Dib was vaguely aware-in that split second-as he stared the man down, just how awful he must have looked. His hair was a mess from constantly running his hands through it. His eyes must have been bloodshot beyond _ belief _ -with all the rubbing and itching he’s been doing. He was also pretty sure he had a few stains on his shirt from the crash-and working on the engine afterwards. Not to mention all the bumps and bruises he’d gained throughout the day. Plus, he only had the one shoe on...

The look of confusion and concern on his Creator’s brow started to slowly mix with irritation as he began to recognize those folders as coming from his Lab. However, it was pretty obvious by what little was visible of the man’s expression, that he hadn’t yet realized  _ which  _ folders they were, just that it meant Dib had been in the basement without permission.

“We’re  _ clones _ ??!” Dib accused loudly-before the man could start lecturing him about being in the Lab. The accusation easily dispelled any doubt Membrane might have had on  _ which  _ folders these were. Dib waved the papers around in front of him as he took an angry step forward on his still shaky legs.

The hot chocolate mug froze mid swirl-almost losing a marshmallow over the edge as the liquid sloshed unexpectedly. Realization dawned on what little was visible of Membrane’s face as his eyebrows almost disappeared into his hairline. He slowly stood up straighter-his whole posture becoming rigid as he came up to his full 6’11” height.

Dib was determined to keep the fierce look in his eyes-even as his nerves started to give and he could feel a hard lump growing in his stomach. He wasn’t sure how exactly to translate his Dad’s response. He watched and tried to analyze his Da-...his  _ creator’s _ body language for any clue on what the Professor was thinking. 

Membrane let out a soft sigh before cautiously walking across the room to stand over his children by the couch. He gently took the folders from Dib with one hand as the other reached past the boy to set his mug down on the table. 

Dib reluctantly let his Creator take the only evidence that proved that he was actually a clone-without really giving any sort of protest in return. He simply watched his Creator closely-jaw tight and fists clenched. The boy tried to determine if the hidden facial expression of the man equated to anger, guilt, sorrow, disappointment, relief, regret, or-

“Yes.” Membrane said in a soft and calm tone. He avoided making any eye contact with Dib as he carefully checked to make sure all the papers were still accounted for and in the correct order. He rotated one or two pages that had somehow managed to be turned upside down, then he straightened the bulk of the papers within both folders to make them neat and organized again.

Dib just stared at him in shocked befuddlement as he felt himself slowly deflate. He really hadn’t expected him to just,  _ admit  _ it like that. So casually and matter-of-factly!? All of the emotions and accusations that had been building up inside him for the past hour and a half suddenly dissipated, and Dib found himself right back to that weird, quiet, staticy numbness from before. 

He really was a clone. 

He reached up and rubbed at his eye for a moment, unsure what else to do with himself now that all the anger and denial was gone. It suddenly hit him again just how  _ weird  _ this day had been. Skipping skool, alien spaceships, crash landing in the woods, being allowed to  _ work  _ on the  _ engines  _ of  _ said alien spaceship _ ! Having several in depth conversations about Bigfoot and Vampires...almost witnessing a person's finger get chopped off...finding out he was actually a  _ clone _ ! What next!?

And had all of that really only just happened  _ today _ ? Most of it felt like it happened over the span of  _ weeks _ . Even sneaking into the Basement Lab to fix his busted glasses felt like it had happened several  _ days  _ ago at this point!

“Why don’t you sit down. So we can talk this out.” Membrane said calmly. Gently. Reasonably. “And Gazlene, could you pause your game for a bit, please?”

Both children complied. 

Dib dragged his feet in a half daze as he moved over to the empty spot on the couch, he plopped himself down heavily and sank into the soft cushions. He sat there-feeling like a hundred year old haunted rag doll-as Gaz paused her game and placed the controller on the table. She slouched back into the cushions and folded her arms grumpily, glaring at nothing.

“I would have preferred to have waited until the two of you were older.” Membrane said, as he stared thoughtfully down at the folders in his gloved hands. “But, I guess now would be as good a time as any.” He sighed softly before he placed the folders down gently on the coffee table. He then picked up his mug of hot chocolate and gently swirled it in one hand as he stood tall in front of the TV. He looked as if he was trying to mentally prepare himself for this conversation. Dib noted that he looked fairly uncomfortable and uncertain-like he really didn’t know how to start.

After a long moment, Membrane glanced up from his mug and looked at Gaz. When she continued to look uninterested, he turned his goggled gaze towards Dib and simply watched him expectedly, as if hoping he would start the conversation for him.

Dib just watched the slowly oscillating dark magenta mug in his father’s hand for a long, silent and awkward moment-trying and failing to gather his own thoughts. He was equally unsure how exactly he was supposed to break the tension building between them. He reached up and dug a knuckle into the corner of his eye.

He then watched as Membrane hooked one finger on his coat’s collar, brought the mug up, then tugged the collar down and took a sip. Dib found himself vaguely impressed that his Dad somehow managed to keep his face completely hidden as he drank. He was also more than a little curious as to what was hidden behind it.

“When,” Dib tried, then cleared his throat when his voice came out a little too thin, “When were you planning on telling us?” He hated how his mouth felt like it was full of cotton.

Membrane released his collar and it automatically popped back up into place. He then lowered the mug slowly as he searched for the right words. “I...was originally planning on when you turned sixteen. Then I thought; perhaps eighteen...perhaps twenty-one.” Dib could see his Dad’s cheeks just below the reflective blue goggles twitch ever so slightly; indicating an awkward and apologetic smile. “Maybe even twenty-five? Depending on your, cognitive development, and mental stability, of course.” He said haltingly. “I didn’t want to...” he paused and cleared his throat; lifting a fist to hover a few inches in front of his collar, “I didn’t want to risk either of you...having an existential crisis, or a psychotic break-if you learned the whole truth before you were ready.”

Dib could feel scrutinizing scientific eyes burrowing into him as Membrane said that last part.  _ Of course we’d have an  _ existential crisis  _ after finding out that we’re clones! And waiting for us to be older would just make it  _ **_worse_ ** _! This is something we should have known at age  _ **_five_ ** _ , not  _ **_twenty-five_ ** _!! _ His fists clenched unconsciously in his lap as he glared at the folders on the table. His right eye gave a small, painful spasm, so he reached up and rubbed at it under his glasses.

Membrane turned his gaze to his daughter. Gaz still seemed very unbothered by the whole situation; in fact, she mostly looked like she was waiting for it to be over, so she could go back to playing her game.

“ _ Why _ ?” Dib blurted. He hated how much emotion was hidden behind that one word. He hated how he sounded like a whiny little kid. He hated how his hands seemed to be shaking in his lap, and he  _ really  _ hated how his vision seemed to be blurring just the slightest bit more as his eyes started to sting. “Why did you  _ make  _ us?!”

Membrane tilted his head and raised that eyebrow again, genuinely confused. “Because I wanted children, of course.” He said it so casually. He said it as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. As if he was honestly  _ confused  _ by Dib’s anger, by Dib’s confusion, by Dib’s wet eyes...

Dib was at a loss for words. 

The man  _ barely  _ spent  _ any  _ time with them! He usually only came home once a  _ month  _ during the skool year, and once a  _ week  _ during the summer! If they were lucky-or unlucky in some cases, as there was a known history for explosions-he might turn up unexpectedly and decide to work on a project at home for a day or three. But even  _ then  _ he still mostly  _ ignored  _ them as he spent all his time down in his Lab! The only time he spends any sort of ‘quality’ time with them was during Family Dinner Night. And even  _ that  _ only happened once a month!! And  _ typically  _ he’d just sit there, awkwardly, never even touching the food or drinks in front of him; all the while just struggling to make uncomfortable small talk-as if he was at a business meeting with  _ strangers _ , and not out to dinner with his  _ kids _ ! 

Plus! He was  _ always  _ criticizing and dismissing Dib’s interests! He never even  _ tried  _ to take the time to actually  _ understand  _ any of the paranormal stuff Dib tried to talk to him about! His Creator was always trying to push Dib into ‘Real Science’(™)! The only time the two of them appeared to almost get along in the past  _ year  _ was last night; when they were working together to build the glasses! And before that...before that it was probably that time about three years ago when they went on a vacation to California. 

Though it wasn’t really a vacation, it was actually just a trip the Professor had to make to visit a sister branch of Membrane Labs, but he decided to drag the kids along with him and  _ call  _ it a Family Vacation. And even then, the man had spent most of the trip in meetings or working in the Lab, leaving Dib and Gaz to fend for themselves during the day; exploring the city, visiting the beach, hanging out at the local arcades-they were  _ nine _ ! They didn’t even have a  _ babysitter _ ! And they had only gotten to see their Dad when it was time for dinner! And even  _ then _ , the Professor never once stepped out of that  _ stupid  _ lab coat of his! He never truly entered ‘vacation mode’ once! He was always in ‘work mode’! 

And dinner time then was  _ still  _ just an hour of awkward small talk like it always was! There was never any true Family Bonding like what Dib saw in movies and TV shows... Maybe if they were lucky, after dinner, their  _ Creator  _ would agree to quietly play a video game with Gaz. But that would still leave Dib to sit alone on the other hotel bed, simply watching-all the while wishing he could be doing  _ anything  _ else-like stalking the beach for mermaids or selkies, or trying to convince his Dad to go to the planetarium with him. But nope, he was stuck in the hotel room, watching Gaz and their Dad playing video games, bored out of his mind and feeling ignored.

_ And I know I’ve already mentioned it, but  _ **_seriously_ ** _ ; he always acts so  _ awkward  _ around us, like he has  _ **_no clue_ ** _ how to even  _ **_talk_ ** _ to kids! _ He didn’t want  _ children _ , he wanted  _ replacements _ ! That was why he was always trying to push Dib into ‘Real Science(™)’, because he wanted Dib to take over Membrane Labs one day!  _ That’s  _ why he made them. To be  _ replacements  _ for him when he got too old to run his stupid company!

There’s no way the man standing in front of Dib right now made them ‘ _ because he wanted children _ ’!! 

He certainly never  _ acted  _ like it.

Membrane seemed to pick up on Dib’s hostile thoughts-honestly, it wasn’t hard to miss, with how much the boy was fuming. He set his mug down again and walked around the table so he could take a knee in front of his son. He placed a gloved hand on Dib’s shoulder and waited until the boy met his reflective, blue goggled gaze.

Dib flinched at the contact. How was it that the world’s most  _ socially inept and awkward _ man  **alive** knew when it was the right time to place a hand on someone’s shoulder, but Dib  **_didn’t_ ** !? Dib met the Professor’s goggles with an all consuming self loathing glare.

“Son.” There was an intense, and almost unreadable look on his Creator’s face, but his voice was strong and confident. “I mean it. I made you, and your Sister, because I wanted children. I know I’m sometimes...not the  _ best  _ Father-”

_ Wow, he actually admitted it.  _ Dib thought bitterly.

“-and my people skills are almost nonexistent. But...that doesn’t mean I don’t still lov-”

“Are we even brother and sister?!” Dib blurted, feeling panic rising up again, as he  _ really  _ didn’t want his  _ Creator  _ to finish  _ that  _ sentence-at least, not yet. Not while he was still so mad at him... “The folders said you used multiple samples of DNA from several different hosts; are, are...are we even  _ related _ ?!”

There was a slight frown in the way Membrane’s brows knitted together; but there was also a hint of thoughtfulness to them-like he was trying to choose his words very carefully. “While, yes, you are both made up of an amalgamation of DNA samples. You are also both mixed with the  _ same  _ samples from those donors-just, in different amounts. That way you wouldn’t be completely identical, but, you are still related.” He paused. “Except...” He hesitated.

“Except?” Dib prompted with narrowed eyes as he pushed the Professor’s hand off his shoulder. He didn’t want to give his  _ Creator  _ a chance to hide anything else. Dib demanded the whole truth! He wanted answers!

“Except there is a... _ small _ exception.” He glanced at Gaz as he let Dib push his hand away-he draped his arm over his knee as he remained half seated on the floor. He brought his attention back to Dib when Gaz showed no sign that she had anything to add yet. “For you, Son, about fifty percent of your DNA comes from me-it's why you look so much like me.” Even Dib couldn’t ignore the obvious hint of pride in Membrane’s voice when he said that. 

“Whereas, for your Sister,” Their Dad turned to Gaz again; who simply raised an eyebrow-arms still crossed as she sat slouched on the couch. “You have fifty percent of your DNA from...an old colleague of mine. A very intelligent woman named Miyuki.” There was still that hint of pride, but now an unexplained nugget of sadness and nostalgia seemed to be mixed with it. “And the other fifty percent, as I said,” He turned back to Dib, “is an amalgamation of different DNA samples. Samples that I, personally, hand selected from a very large sample group, then divided out carefully amongst the two of you. So,” He lifted a gloved fist in front of his face again as he cleared his throat awkwardly, “you two are,  _ technically,  _ genetic half siblings.”

“Wait, half? But...then wouldn’t that mean...Gaz isn’t even related to  _ you _ ?!” Dib asked, dumbfounded.

“Maybe we don’t share any DNA,” Membrane said reasonably, “but that doesn’t make her any less my Daughter. Would it not be the same if she were adopted?” He tilted his head curiously. “Besides, I may have created you both in my lab, but that does not make me any less your Father, does it? I put a lot of effort into mixing those DNA samples after all, in order to get them just right. And it took a lot of time, care, and research to create the two of you. And, after all that, I raised you two as my very own children; does that not, then, make me your Father?” He sounded so genuine. Like he really believed what he was saying.

“I guess...” Dib admitted reluctantly, unable to really argue with the logic-even if he still felt a little bit like being a clone didn’t exactly make him  _ human _ . And that little speech didn’t change the fact that Dib still felt like his  _ ‘father’  _ didn’t spend  _ nearly  _ enough  _ actual  _ quality time with them to have properly earned that title...but, at least he never paraded them around as science experiments? He’d never published any papers proving cloning was possible...and he  _ had  _ always introduced them to people as ‘my children’. So up till now, there was never really any hint that they were anything but... 

“But then, what’s even the  _ point _ ?” Dib complained, trying to stay rightfully mad-even as the exhaustion of the day was really starting to wear him down. “You said you just wanted kids, but you’re hardly ever around! Were we just some sort of experiment? Something you decided to make one day to inflate your own ego and prove to the world that cloning humans- _ manipulating _ their  _ genes _ -was possible?! Or, are we supposed to be your replacement for when you retire? Is that why you’re always pushing me into  _ science _ ?” He hated how his voice cracked on the word. “Why did you even make us?! What are we?! Are we even  _ human _ ?!”

“We’re amalgamation abominations created for experimentations.” Gaz said with a tiny smirk. Truthfully, she didn’t have any issue with this whole ‘clone’ thing-it was something she’d come to term with two years ago, when she’d connected all the dots and figured it out for herself. And she’d easily skipped over the whole ‘Existential Crisis’ thing too, because, unlike Dib, she actually got  _ along  _ with their Dad. So, she could easily look past his socially awkward and distant behavior and recognize that he did, truly care for them as his own offspring. And he definitely didn’t view them as just some random successful experiment, like Dib was accusing. However, watching her brother struggle with this whole thing was, in truth, very fun. He always gave the best reactions when he was freaking out like this, and she  _ loved  _ provoking him to make it worse; because, again, it was  _ so  _ much fun to watch.

“Gazlene!” Membrane said sternly as Dib’s eyes widened in fear. 

Dib started to frantically look back and forth between his fellow clone and their Creator-the beginnings of a panic attack clearly seizing his chest as his breath started to hitch loudly. Was that true? Were they only created to be  _ experiments _ ? Despite how many times Membrane tried to deny it; that thought kept returning to him like a  _ really  _ bad song-it looped on repeat in the back of Dib’s head and refused to go away! 

Plus, the folder said he was the  _ eighth  _ attempt! What happened to the previous  **_seven_ ** ?! Did he have other  **siblings** !!? Dib dug his fingers deeply into his hair and pulled as his whole body started shaking and he struggled to breathe.  _ WHAT HAPPENED TO THE OTHER SEVEN?!? _

Gaz gave an innocent and uncaring shrug as she slouched further into the couch and folded her arms tighter across her chest. Membrane just gave her a soft, disappointed frown-though it was hard to tell if it was from her attitude, or her slouching; since, it was the same look he always gave Dib whenever he slouched at the dinner table. 

Membrane let out a small huff and shook his head, as if it couldn’t be helped, then he turned back to Dib. When he spoke, his voice was gentle and almost caring-a tone that Dib was fairly certain he'd never actually heard coming from the man before, and the unexpectedness of it helped to ground him a little as the grip on his hair loosened and his breathing slowed again.

“Like I said, I wanted children. That’s the only reason.” Membrane insisted as he tilted his head slightly to the side, indicating sincerity, giving Dib an intense and serious look as he tried to convince his son he meant what he was saying.

Dib felt himself scoff and looked away, feeling one of his legs transition from shaking to bouncing as his hands started to grip each other in his lap and his heart continued to pound away in his chest. He was still having so much trouble believing those words- _ especially _ when he had all the evidence of having an absentee father his whole childhood to contradict them. He reached up and irritably rubbed at his right eye- _ apparently _ making grumpy faces meant it kept throbbing and spasming painfully. 

Membrane let out another soft, genuinely sorrowful sounding sigh as he leaned back onto his haunches. His shoulders dropped slightly and-for once in his life-his own posture dipped into a slouch as he quietly watched his son resent him. 

“Daughter.” He said after a moment, turning his attention back to Gaz-as if trying to change the subject. “Disregarding your little outburst to tease your Brother; you’ve been fairly quiet. How are you handling this news?” He sounded tired.

Gaz gave a casual shrug, arms still folded across her chest as she slipped even further into the back cushions of the sofa-practically laying down as her legs dangled over the edge. “I’d already guessed it; about two years ago. I don’t really care, it doesn’t change anything.”

“What do you mean it doesn’t change anything?!” Dib burst out, exasperated and disbelieving. He sat forward and turned to face her, his arms flying out to either side in outrage. “It changes everything! Gaz, how do you not find this  _ weird _ ?!”

“It’s only weird if you make it weird,  _ dork _ .” She glared at him.

Dib glared back, but as his eyes narrowed the right one gave _yet another_ painful spasm, causing him to grimace. He reached one hand up to rub at it, but it met resistance half way there as the Professor’s hand was suddenly grasping his wrist.

“What was that?” His Dad said. Before Dib could say anything-or even attempt to pull his arm away-Membrane had taken a penlight out from one of his breast pockets, clicked it on, and brought it straight towards Dib’s face. “You have rubbed at your eye several times since I arrived home.” He said under his breath, more to himself than to Dib. “Let me see it.” Membrane released Dib’s arm as he leaned closer and pushed the boy’s glasses up to his forehead. He then began to examine his son’s eyes-gently lifting the lid on each in turn with a gloved thumb-waving the penlight slowly side to side as his brows furrowed in concentration. 

Dib weakly gave a verbal protest as the bright light stabbed into his eyes. But he didn’t resist any further, because he knew he really needed to get his eye looked at; and honestly, if this whole Clone Thing hadn’t distracted him, it would have been the first thing he told his dad about when the man had walked through the front door.

“Flir- Ir- Great Scott! You  _ really  _ overdid it with those glasses today, didn’t you?” His Father sputtered, somehow managing to sound both impressed, and disappointed at the same time. “Son, you have a cataract the size of a  _ moon _ .” He clicked the penlight off and returned it to his breast pocket as he stood up. “Let’s get you down to the Lab and see if I can fix your eye.” He turned to pick up his now tepid hot chocolate in one hand, and scooped up the folder with the other. He then made his way towards the basement door at a quick and purposeful pace. Not even bothering to check to see if Dib was actually following him.

Gaz picked up her game controller and unpaused it the moment their Dad’s back was turned. She promptly ignored the rest of the world as she started clicking away at the buttons.

Dib let out a small, disgruntled hum as he rubbed at his eye before pulling his glasses back down to their rightful place on his face. 

_ Of  _ course  _ Dad would run off the second he had an excuse to end that conversation! _ Even if Dib had to begrudgingly admit that his eyesight  _ should  _ probably be a priority at the moment...it was still pretty obvious that his Dad was only trying to escape having to sit through that conversation.  _ He simply  _ jumped  _ at the first excuse he could find to end it! _ It wouldn’t have mattered what the excuse was, it was just  _ convenient  _ that it happened to be Dib’s eyesight.  _ But, I’m not done yet! I still have a lot to say about it,  _ **_Dad_ ** _! And I’m not about to let you off the hook that easily!  _ Dib stood up and followed the man down to the Lab, feeling a little off balance with only the one shoe on.

When he finally reached the bottom of the stairs, he found himself squinting at the unexpectedly bright light coming from the overhead fluorescents. It seemed the Professor had turned on all the lights in the Lab, and it was a pretty stark contrast to how it had looked before. It took Dib’s eyes a moment to adjust.

Membrane was busily moving about the different workstations as he cleared and prepared a spot for the examination-and possible surgery. As he moved about the Lab, he gathered up any and all tools he thought might come in handy; laying them out neatly on a sterile silver tray-which was resting atop a tall rolly table-next to one of the few workstations Dib had managed to not actually touch earlier. 

As Dib approached, Membrane spared him a glance before silently motioning for him to stay back until he was ready for him.

The boy frowned and crossed his arms grumpily as he was forced to stand in the middle of the floor. He watched his Creator crisscross the lab-looking like one of those chiefs on a cooking show. One of the ones where a timer ticks down in the background, and they have to try and gather all the ingredients they need before it reaches zero.

Dib watched as Membrane placed the folders back in the drawer he had found them in. The man then pulled out a key from one of his many pockets and proceeded to lock the drawer tight. He then made his way back to the workstation-where everything was waiting-and paused to take a sip of his hot chocolate-again, somehow managing to perfectly conceal his face from view as he did. 

He put the mug back down, then moved off to another station. 

He opened the middle left drawer and pulled out a handful of gauze. He then moved to the other side of the room with long, purposeful strides-dropping the gauze off in a smooth, practiced motion as he passed the silver tray and made his way towards another workstation. He bent down slightly as he pulled open the top right drawer, he pulled out a small syringe that was vacuum sealed in a plastic baggie, then he closed the drawer and opened the one below it. He pulled out a tiny glass jar and stood tall as he held it up to the light; swirling it gently as he examined it’s contents. It was unmarked and filled about three quarters with a pink liquid. 

Seeming satisfied, he closed the drawer and carried both items back to the station, dropping them off in that same, smooth motion as he made his way towards a cabinet in the back corner. 

After rummaging through several drawers, he muttered something unintelligible under his breath, closed the last drawer of the cabinet, then stepped over to a table a few feet to his right. 

He dug around it for a bit before he seemed to find what he was looking for. 

Membrane then began to make his way back towards Dib-a small and unknown object in his left hand. It  _ almost  _ looked like a pipette, but was a deep purple instead of the typical beige color that the scientific tool usually came in, and it seemed to have several extra buttons on it that weren’t something a pipette would usually have.

Without any warning, his Dad plucked Dib up off the ground and-without breaking his stride-tucked him up under his right arm as he carried him over to the now fully prepared workstation. 

Dib was honestly so used to his Dad handling him like this, that he didn’t even react. This was just how his Dad always carried him; and it was probably the closest thing to a hug the two of them ever shared.

Plopping his son down on the counter top, Membrane turned towards the rolly table-now neatly filled with medical supplies-and pulled it closer as he reviewed the items. He double checked that he had grabbed everything he would need as he added the weird purple pipette to the line of tools.

Dib sat and watched quietly, his arms still folded as he had a slight pout to his face.

“Glasses.” Membrane reminded as he carefully tore open the packet with the syringe in it, a small hiss of air filled the silence.

“Okay.” Dib huffed as he removed his glasses, folded them, and put them off to the side.

“Now,” His Dad said as he inserted the needle into the tiny glass jar. “Did you remember to keep track of how often you used each feature?” He placed the jar down before tapping any air bubbles out of the syringe, then started moving it towards Dib’s face.

Dib hesitated. “No, I didn’t write any of it down.” He admitted, knowing his scientist of a Dad would be disappointed by that. And by the look on what was visible of the man’s face, he was right. “But, I remember it, and...I can tell you.” He started fidgeting with his hands.

“Hold still.” Membrane instructed as he placed a hand on top of Dib’s head and turned it slightly to the left. “And how many times do I have to tell you; if you’re going to be running experiments with unstable and untested tech, you should write the results down. That way, it can be analyzed and any issues corrected and overall performance improved.” He inserted the needle in between Dib’s right eye and the bone of its socket then gently pushed down on the syringe’s stopper. “No matter how perfect you think your memory may be, it’s no comparison to  _ proper  _ Scientific record keeping.” He removed the needle carefully and placed it on the tray.

“I know, but-” Dib flinched when his Dad returned with a scooper. “I swear I remember every instance, and I even sort of kept track of how long each setting was in use.” He could feel a warm, numb, tingling spreading through his right eye and his eyelid twitched a bit at the sensation.

“‘Sort of’ is not Scientifically Accurate, Son.” Membrane said sternly as he placed his hand back on the top of Dib’s head to turn it again and hold it still. He made a small noise in the back of his throat as he brought the scooper up to Dib’s eye. “But fine, why don’t you recite it for me. Just don’t move or blink.”

And so, Dib listed off every instance-along with a rough time duration-of each time he’d activate each one of the new settings on his glasses. He, of course, left out the reason  _ why  _ he ended up using the glasses so often-citing simple curiosity on what different things would look like with each of the new settings. 

He had also tried to casually come up with an excuse of a bully bumping into him in the hallway-then stepping on his glasses-to explain why his right eye was so much more damaged than the left, and why he had had to come down to the Lab to fix them. 

Meanwhile, Membrane removed Dib’s eye from its socket-careful to keep it attached to the optical nerve as he held it cupped in his left hand, just a few inches from Dib’s face. The Professor expertly cut it open and began to examine the extent of the damage. He’d occasionally ask a question in response to Dib’s ramblings-or give a friendly reminder not to move-as he very carefully maneuvered the nerves within the eye to reconnect them using the strange notpipette tool to do so. He had a very focused look on his face as his brows knitted tightly over his goggles. Dib guessed his goggles had some sort of zoom and enhance feature, as he didn’t appear to have any difficulty seeing what it was that he was doing.

“And then, while I waited for the lens glue to dry, I decided to modify the code.” Dib continued, a little too caught up in his recap to remember that that probably should have been kept a secret.

“Modify it?” Membrane placed the tool down and picked up another, keeping Dib’s eye gently cupped in his hand as he did. “You accessed one of my computers while you were down here?” He didn’t exactly sound angry, but it was definitely a ‘fatherly disapproval’ adjacent version of that-with maybe a hint of worry?

“Y-yeah, I didn’t snoop or anything.” Dib grumbled. “I just wanted to change the brightness and contrast levels. I think it’s a big reason why my eyes met their limit so quickly. And I thought if I changed that, I might be able to use the settings for longer stretches without it affecting my vision.” He started to drum his hands on his legs and had to quickly force himself to keep still. “I only edited the Thermal and Night settings, I didn’t touch HD at all.”

“Good. That code is much too complex for you.” Membrane said as he switched tools again. When Dib opened his mouth to give a bitter retort-almost turning to face his Dad, his Father scolded suddenly, “Dibromide! I told you not to move! This is very delicate work. Do you want to lose your vision altogether!”

Dib seethed in silence for a moment, feeling an odd mix of fear and anger at the man’s suddenly raised voice-he also felt his left eye start to prickle with wetness. 

But he knew he was right, so he kept his mouth shut and sat as still as he could. 

From what he could see out of the peripheral of his still working left eye, Dib saw that his Dad was holding the right eye gently in one gloved hand, as he carefully poked at it with the weird notpipette device again. 

Now that Dib was looking at it up close, it really was a strange device...he didn’t recognize it at all. He thought about asking his Dad what it was, but was too afraid that he’d get yelled at again if he tried to speak, so he ended up holding his tongue.

Dib tried to watch the surgery-mostly out of morbid curiosity and boredom-but the bridge of his nose combined with his Dad’s fingers blocked most of the gore from his limited view. Which left him stuck, staring off at nothing across the lab, as he tried his best not to move. 

“Why did you keep using the glasses even after the lens broke?” Membrane asked softly, after a few minutes of tense awkward silence.

Dib chewed on the inside of his cheek as he tried to think of a convincing lie. He tried not to wince when he accidentally bit down on the same spot that he had bitten open a few hours earlier when Zim had startled him. He tongued at the spot for a moment-tasting blood again-as he tried to refocus his thoughts. When nothing good enough came to mind, he decided to go for a half truth.

“I went...cryptid hunting?” He inwardly cringed at how unsure that sounded, but he hoped his Dad would misinterpret it as guilt, seeing that he’d originally told him the glasses weren’t for that purpose.

“Tsk. Of course you did.” Membrane shook his head with a sigh. “Son, that was extremely reckless and irresponsible. Ignoring the fact that cryptids are  _ Not  _ Scientifically Possible; you could have permanently blinded yourself!” He focused on the eyeball for a moment before switching tools and continuing. “Sure. I can easily invent you a robotic eye-perhaps even one with these settings built in-and with better contrast level balance, and probably no time limit. Or at the very least, a fail safe that automatically turns it off. But.  _ That  _ is not the point. You are smarter than this. You  _ should  _ be smarter than this. To misuse technology like this? To push yourself past your limits like this? And with a  _ prototype  _ no less! I thought I raised you better than this. You should  _ always  _ properly test new technology! You should never go all out with it willy nilly before you fully understand _ it _ -and  _ your _ -limits! You really should have been more careful!” 

“What are you talking about!” Dib snapped, fists clenching in his lap as he forced himself to stay still. “You’re hardly ever home! You can’t say you ‘ _ thought you raised me better _ ’ when  **you** are  _ barely  _ even around  _ to  _ raise me at  **all** !” 

Membrane paused in his work and met Dib’s one eyed gaze. “You...really don’t think I’ve been a good father, do you?”

Dib wanted to reply ‘No! Of course not! Do  _ you _ ?!’ but the hurt look on his Dad’s face, the soft dejected tone of his voice. The answer was right there, and clear as day. The man  _ honestly  _ thought he had been doing a good job raising these kids up till now. He  _ honestly  _ didn’t think he’d done a bad job as a father.

Dib looked away-careful not to move his head-unable to look at his  _ Creator _ ...his Father...his Dad...

Nonetheless, even Membrane could recognize that brief flash of infuriation, followed by remorse in the boy’s eye as he looked away. 

Even the supposedly unfeeling scientist felt regret at the sight.

“I’m...sorry.” He admitted quietly as he began working on Dib’s eye again. “I didn’t realize that’s how you felt.”

There was silence between them for a long moment.

“Your Sister...does she-?”

“No,” Dib sighed. “She thinks you’re great.” He admitted begrudgingly. “I just...wish you were around more...and...I just wish…” He struggled to put all his emotions into words, and it was really hard to think clearly when he wasn’t allowed to move a muscle-so he decided to just go with his biggest wish. “I wish you would take me seriously when I talk about paranormal stuff.” He finally said in a very quiet voice, “Like, stop dismissing me and-I don’t know-at least try to listen?”

“I see.” The reply was barely louder than a breath.

Dib saw, more than felt, his eye being placed back in its socket. Between Membrane’s steady and gentle hands, and whatever painkiller meds he had injected him with, Dib couldn’t feel a thing.

“Blink a few times.” Membrane instructed, still in that soft, almost sad tone.

Dib complied.

“How’s your vision?”

Dib looked around the room, squinting. “Blurry? But all the color’s returned, and there’s no more haze.” He reached for his glasses and pushed them back onto his face before looking up at his Dad. “Now it’s clear.”

Membrane nodded. “I didn’t over correct it, did I?”

“No,” Dib shook his head as one of his shoeless foot started to lightly jiggle. “Everything looks exactly the same.”

“Good.” Dib could tell by the tilt of his Dad’s brows and the pinch of his cheeks that he was smiling. “I’m glad.” He hesitated and the smile disappeared. “Son-?”

“It’s fine.” Dib cut him off as he hopped off the table and straightened his trench coat. Then he started heading towards the stairs. 

Membrane stopped him with a firm yet gentle hand on his shoulder. “No, you’re right. I,” He paused, “I should put more effort into listening to your interests. If...if you’re up for it. I could take the day off Saturday, and we could perhaps spend the day together?”

“Really?” Dib asked in disbelief.

“Yes, whatever you want to do. No judgement, promise.”

Before Dib’s mind could register what his body was doing, he had his arms wrapped firmly around his Father’s midsection and was squeezing tightly. “I’d...really like that.” He didn’t even care how strained his voice sounded as he talked around the lump growing in his throat. And he really didn’t care how tight his chest felt as his Dad patted him on the back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Credit for the inspiration of Dib's full name goes to a few posts on tumblr, it may not be canon but it's canon in my heart X3
> 
> Also, yes, Dib and Gaz's full names are "Chemical Formula parentheses Dibromide/Gazlene" Membrane calls them Dibromide/Gazlene for short, and the kids shortened their names further from there lol Which means, once they have their driver licenses it will literally say "C15H27Br2N3O (Dibromide) Membrane" and "C8H18 (Gazlene) Membrane"  
> ...Does that technically mean Dibromide/Gazlene are their /middle/ names?? huh, yeah probably XD (just realized that whoops)
> 
> Fun Fact: Gaz is playing Breath of the Wild  
> Fun Fact 2: There's some heavy handed hints here that have been planned since before I even started writing and I'm so excited to finally have a chance to start foreshadowing a pretty big plot point :3


	18. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This entire chapter is in Irken (except for GIR's lines)
> 
> I discovered that I can scratch out lines, so I sort of played with that, hopefully it works, let me know if it doesn't (Edit: when I copied and pasted the chapter over, the scratch out effect didn't carry over so I had to go back and manually scratch it all out, so...I may not use them that often going forward, just because that's a bit of a hassle)

**Chapter 17**

After dropping the two hyumans off at their places of residency, Zim was  _ finally  _ able to return to his base. He hastily parked the Voot Cruiser in the attic hanger before quickly going about dismissing all of the warnings, pop ups, and alerts on the dashboard that had been practically  _ screaming  _ at him since the crash. He then powered down the engines while silently thanking Irk, and  _ all  _ the Tallests in history, for keeping all four engines running smoothly during that return trip. 

Because, honestly: it was a miracle they hadn’t exploded on the way back. 

_ Stupid hyumans! Making Zim crash and damage my amazing  _ **_Voot_ ** _! Almost getting the Amazing  _ **_Zim_ ** _ stranded in the middle of  _ **_nowhere_ ** _ on this ffffilthy firking planet! Stupid smeets! _

Once the Voot was completely shut down, Zim jumped out and quickly started running back and forth between the ship and the main computer console of the hanger; grabbing, and tirelessly dragging, several large cables over to the ship one at a time. All the while, continuously grumbling and cursing under his breath. 

After the Voot was successfully all hooked up, and everything appeared to be in its proper place, Zim gave a sharp verbal command for the Computer to begin the repair sequence-easily ignoring its snarky remarks about all the damage it now had to fix-as he marched towards the elevator. 

The Irken slapped a button on the wall to summon the elevator, less than a second passed before a spot in the wall split open with a soft hiss. Zim stepped casually and confidently into the tiny room, and stood at parade rest as the floor quickly carried him down to the ground floor of the house. 

When the doors opened again, Zim found GIR sitting on the couch in his doggie suit, staring mindlessly at the teevee-which itself was just showing very loud black-and-white static. However, the little SIR unit seemed to come to life at the sight of Zim exiting the elevator. 

“Masta!” GIR jumped to his feet excitedly, standing on top of the couch and waving his stubby little arms about in greeting to the Invader. 

While the elevator doors closed behind him, Zim began to remove his disguise, barely giving the little robot a second thought as he stowed his wig and contacts away in his PAK-feeling absolutely  _ relieved  _ to finally have those  _ stupid  _ itchy itchy contacts out! 

_ Zim will have to look into a way to make them more comfortable, just in case I get stuck wearing them all day again. Perhaps I could- _

“MASTA’”

Zim had just enough of a warning to catch GIR midair by one of his stubby little legs before the robot had a chance to latch onto his head. The Irken held him casually out at arm’s length while he marched over to the couch. 

He dropped the SIR unit unceremoniously back onto the pink cushions before letting out a tiny, almost affectionate sigh-along with a tired, offhanded greeting-before he patted GIR on his head. The little robot wiggled about happily in his seat.

The Irken then started pacing around the living room, trying to organize his thoughts enough to remember what it was he was supposed to be doing, now that he was back at his base.

“How was  _ skoooooool _ ?” GIR asked in a happy, high pitched squeal as he watched Zim walk about. His own little legs kicking up and down enthusiastically on the couch in time to mimic each of his master’s steps.

“I didn’t go to skool today, GIR.” Zim said matter-of-factly as he began to smooth out his uniform. He frowned slightly when his claws got caught in something. He paused in his pacing to look down. 

His antennae suddenly flicked forward and stood up with shock as he rediscovered the multitude of rips, tears, and bloodstains that absolutely  _ covered  _ his tunic-both from the crash, and that scuffle with the Loughran.

His claws had snagged on a very sizable hole that ran right across his torso. Zim’s eyes darted about the uniform as he quickly took stock of all the damage. The left shoulder in particular looked gruesomely mangled-even though the actual wound there had  _ long  _ since healed-the tunic itself still held evidence of the fight with several splotches of dried pink blood; which blended almost seamlessly in with the pink of his uniform. There were also several smaller rips all over his uniform, along with countless smears of dirt and muck; most likely from rolling around on the  _ ffffilthy  _ forest floor. 

And, if his memory was correct, Zim was certain that the back of his tunic also held a few blood stained tears on it as well… _ flirking parasite! _

Zim irritably turned his attention back to the large hole running right across the front of his torso...right where the Loughran had tried-and failed, obviously-to gut him. 

_ Why- _ **_how_ ** _ had it managed to hurt Zim?! _

He ran his gloved claws over his antennae with frustration. He suddenly winced and let out a low growl as he felt an odd texture stuck onto his gloves grate unbearably against his sensitive feelers. 

He brought both his claws down to eye level and squinted curiously. Dried, dark goop clung onto all six of his claws; it was flaking slightly, and would have been impossible to see against the black of his gloves if it wasn’t for that fact. 

Zim flexed his claws thoughtfully,  _ is this...the Loughran’s blood?...or, at least, the equivalent of that? _ Zim remembered  _ something  _ oozing out of the parasite’s neck as he dug his claws into it in retaliation for it doing the same to him...had this goop really been on his gloves this  _ whole  _ time?

Zim looked down at the rip in the front of his tunic once more as he thought back to the scuffle. He began to analyze it with the strategic clarity of hindsight that only a  _ true  _ Irken Elite Soldier would be able to process and comprehend. He thought about how the Loughran had attacked him, tried to gut him...because it was defending its host…?

But...Loughran weren’t  _ supposed  _ to be so possessive of their hosts. They weren’t  _ supposed  _ to be so violent. They weren’t  _ supposed  _ to have any natural weapons!

At least, that was all according to the reports…

But then, hadn’t Zim just learned that this Loughran was  _ permanently  _ attached to the host-girl? 

That  _ would  _ very easily explain its possessiveness and aggression as it tried to keep her alive; because it didn’t view her as a simple, temporary meal amongst a large buffet, but rather, it was more like she was akin to being the only edible food source available to it in the whole galaxy. 

Sure, it could probably find another host if something happened to the girl, but the two have been attached for the past six Urth years...for practically its whole existence-and just about half of hers. And without the hivemind, the Loughran’s whole identity was pretty much dependent on its relationship with this single, hyuman smeet. Switching to a new host for it, might be more akin to an Irken having to download into a new PAK-or possibly even having to switch organic shells? 

It was possible, but something one usually found very unsettling, and tried not to think about for too long-usually due to the huge existential crisis that it came with. The large question of which was the ‘true’ Irken...was it the body, or the PAK? Or was it some combination of the two? 

And, as Zim had also just discovered,  _ because  _ it had never had time to properly sync with the hivemind, it was practically an individual. It didn’t have any of the memories or knowledge of the Loughran before it.

In fact...it was practically...it was practically a whole new  _ species? _ No, that wasn’t right. It was still technically a  _ Loughran. _ But it was...it was more like it had a completely different  _ culture  _ to the Loughran that existed before it. Yes. A completely different view on how the ‘world’ worked. A completely different belief system. Completely different base natural instincts? Almost no knowledge of anything outside of its own experiences here on this barbaric and primitive planet... ~~ like an Irken without the Collective downloaded into its PAK ~~ ...

Without the hivemind memory, the parasite had a completely different personality than what they were known to display from the report. And now that Zim knew that it had been on this underdeveloped, filthy planet; attached to the same host for the entire time...it really wasn’t that big of a surprise that it was so different from what Zim had been expecting.

But still...that didn’t explain the changes to it’s  _ physiology _ . Even if it was extremely different  _ mentally  _ from what the data said, it still shouldn’t have the ability to form any sort of  _ weapons _ ...and yet...

Zim picked at the hole on the front of his tunic thoughtfully.

_ And yet, it had still managed to damage my uniform… _

The thing shouldn’t be  _ that  _ different from the reports. And yet it was...

But it just didn’t make any sense! It shouldn’t be possible!

How was it even physically able to manage to draw  **_blood??_ **

“Yous didn’?! Yous didn’?! Yous didn’?! YOUS  _ DIDN’ _ ?!”

Zim paused to glance at GIR; momentarily distracted from his train of thought thanks to the robot’s insistent screaming. It grated on his antennae and almost reminded him of that immobilizing terrible horrible awful screech that the host-girl was somehow capable of creating.

He would have to look into that further as well...that was a very dangerous weakness.

“Computer!” Zim snapped, ignoring GIR. “Bring Zim a new top! I must look my best for my Tallests!” 

“Ugh. Fine.” Came the response from overhead.

While he waited, Zim returned his attention back down to the tunic, angrily scrutinizing the several rips and dried blood, a disgusted and contemptuous look began to deepen on his face as he slowly forgot what he had just been thinking about-before GIR’s little interruption. His mind now instead focusing on just how  _ dirty  _ and unprofessional his current appearance was.

A slot in the floor opened up next to Zim a moment later-a small pedestal rising from the space with a fresh, neatly folded, and primly pressed pink tunic atop it.

Zim quickly switched out the tops, tossing the old, ruined one onto the pedestal along with his filthy, goop encrusted gloves. He pulled the new tunic on and tugged at the hem until it fit neatly around his PAK. 

As the pedestal silently disappeared back into the floor without a trace, Zim reached over his shoulder to remove his spare gloves from his PAK. However, when he held them up in preparation to pull them on, a subtle smell tickled against his antennae and made him pause. 

Zim made a face and held the gloves up so he could meticulously examine them. They  _ appeared  _ clean, but were definitely emitting a little smelly... _ smell. _ The Irken twitched his antennae at them again and quickly made a disgusted face as he confirmed that they  _ reeked  _ of the hyuman boy. 

And, it was only in that moment, that Zim managed to remember that the Dib-stink had had these gloves in his possession for the latter half of the day.

“Disgusting filthy smelly Urth-worm monkey PIG! First he makes the Might  **ZIM** crash the Voot! And now he’s ruined Zim’s back up gloves!! Flirking smelly Urth-pig monkey  _ FILTH _ !”

He sharply ordered the Computer to bring him a fresh pair of gloves as he waved the tainted ones angrily over his head; continuing with his onslaught of colorful Irken curses. His antennae pressed firmly against the top of his scalp as he tried to avoid detecting their smell any further.

Once he had discarded said tainted gloves-and pulled on the new, clean pair the Computer had provided-Zim  _ finally  _ turned his attention to the giant teevee screen. It was still hissing loudly with static. He took a few steps forward and manually switched it off. 

“Aws, I’s wass watchin’ that.” GIR pouted behind him.

Zim simply gave a quiet and distracted hum in response as he waved a dismissive claw over his shoulder, not even bothering to look at the little robot as he took a few steps back. 

The Irken then looked up at the large blank screen and began to use it as a mirror. First, he made sure his gloves were on straight and snug, then he tugged at the new tunic to make sure that it was unwrinkled and perfect. Next, he double checked his leggings and boots to make sure nothing was amiss with either of them. Last, he reached up to smooth out his antennae-feeling satisfied as the gloves ran gently and smoothly across them. The action also helped to distribute the naturally occurring oil from their base to the tips-effectively cleaning them from the filth of this long, awful day and this horrible, awful planet.

_ Much better. _

“Computer! Call the Tallests!” Zim commanded with confidence once he was satisfied with his appearance.

As the teevee flickered on-the Irken Insignia briefly appearing along with some subtle hold music-Zim realized with horror that he hadn’t yet reviewed  _ any  _ of the downloaded data from the Pod! That was  _ definitely  _ something he needed to include in his report! 

_ Flirk. _

Panic gripped his spooch and he quickly opened his mouth to order the Computer to end the call before it could be successfully connected with the Massive.

But then, it did just that.

And Almighty Tallest Red replaced the Irken Insignia on the screen. His eyes half lidded and antennae leaning back  _ ever  _ so slightly. Zim could also see Almighty Tallest Purple lounging on the couch in the background, munching away on some sweet rolls while somehow looking both bored and inconvenienced.

_ Too late. I’ll just tell them everything else. Zim will have to make up an excuse that the data is still being translated or something. Hopefully they’ll be okay with that. Of course they will! I am Zim! The Tallests love me! _

The Smaller Irken realized with a jolt that he was still standing there, frozen, with his mouth half open and the order to end the call still hovering on the tip of his tongue. 

He quickly closed his mouth, threw an arm across his chest, bent his head forward respectively, then-to complete the salute-he wiggled his antennae rapidly side to side.

“Zim!” Almighty Tallest Red called out, just as the Invader looked up to verbally greet his leaders. “We do  _ not  _ need daily reports from you! Stop calling us and just send us weekly  _ written  _ reports like  _ everyone  _ else!” Almighty Tallest Red then looked off screen and drew a sharp line across his throat half a second before the transmission cut out.

Zim stood, unmoving, and still bent forward in salute; his antennae frozen midwiggle with mouth ajar- _ again- _ but this time in preparation for salutations. However, the greeting had shriveled and died in his throat as the transmission cut out.

And his mind went as blank as the teevee screen in front of him. 

The image of the interior of the Massive vanished and his squeedlyspooch pulsed and twisted uncomfortably in the resulting silence; panic and anxiety warring against each other for the next several moments. 

All the while, not a single coherent thought was able to form in either his brain or his PAK, as he simply stared at the blank screen, unable to fully comprehend what had just happened. 

Denial started to set in shortly after that, his mind quickly backpedaling.  _ Hard _ . Because, surely, that didn’t just happen.  _ Surely  _ Zim hadn’t just called the Tallests unprepared! No, no. That would be  _ ridiculous! _ And surely the Almighty Tallests hadn’t just  _ hung up on Zim!?  _ Before he could have even said hello??

Zim started mentally going through his report, just as he had practiced it several times earlier in the Voot while the two hyumans were passed out. He began to mull over every detail, as if he hadn’t yet called the Tallests-because of course he hadn’t! That was a fluke! A dream! A mistake! Fake!  _ LIES! _

That did  _ not  _ just happen!

He mentally went through the report again, as if he was only just now preparing to call them for the first time. 

Because, surely, that didn’t just happen. Surely Zim hadn’t just made that extremely unprofessional and unprepared call!? And _surely_ the Almighty Tallests hadn’t just **hung up on him!** _Surely_ they’d want to hear about _everything_ that had happened today! Surely they’d be interested in an update on the Loughran and all of Zim’s progress with his Top Secret Mission!!? 

_ There must have been something wrong with the reception? Yes! The transmission must have cut out by accident!  _

No! 

Zim had simply hallucinated that he’d called the Tallests! Yes! Surely it was all just a simple sleep scare! There’s  _ no way _ what had just happened had actually just happened! 

Zim will simply call the Almighty Tallests again-no, for the  _ first  _ time!-after he properly prepared his report! Yes!

And until then, he would rehearse it one last time, just to be safe! He would check on the Pod’s data, add that information to his report, then he would call the Almighty Tallests for the  **_first_ ** time!

Yes, yes that sounded like a good plan.

He mentally went through the report for the third time since the call had abruptly ended. The speech somehow morphing into something new, as intrusive thoughts continuously interrupted his rehearsal-his PAK and organic brain struggling to stay in sync.

_ “Greetings, My Tallests! Zim has had a very eventful day that I am sure you will be very interested to hear about!” _

_ And then the Tallests will say “Oh, yes, Zim! We’ve been waiting to hear from you! Please, tell us how your Awesome and Amazing Top Secret Mission is going!” All enthusiastically like that, because Zim is their favorite after all. _

_ And then Zim would regale them with the events of the day! “Well you see, My Tallests, I arrived at the skool-”  _ ~~_ should Zim explain what skool is?  _ Have  _ I explained what it is yet? _ ~~ _ “-Which is the hyuman’s equivalent of our education centers...our training centers-...it’s uh, full of this planet’s native’s version of smeets…” _

_~~It’s full of smeets~~... _

_ “And when Zim arrived at this  _ skool _ , I did not see any sign of the Loughran. So, naturally, Zim decided to subtly confront the host-girl to discover the whereabouts of the parasite!” _

~~_ The host-girl had looked so exhausted...and the Dib-stink, he had looked so concerned…so protective...willing to do anything to help. _ ~~ _ An  _ Irken  _ would  _ never  _ sacrifice their own safety-much less an entire finger digit!-for another being like that.  _ **_Feh!_ ** _ It just showed how weak these hyumans are! Having to rely on each other like that.  _

~~_ Smeets. Unable to fend for themselves. _ ~~

_ “And of course, Zim was easily able to ascertain that the Loughran had run off! And yet somehow had not yet broken it’s attachment to its hyuman host!” And then Zim’ll pause, so that information can sink in with the Tallests, and they will be Amazed and demand that I continue my report! They will demand all the answers that I have uncovered today with my  _ **_amazing_ ** _ Invader and spying skills! _

_ “And because the Loughran parasite was still attached, it was very rapidly draining the host-girl of her life force-” _

_~~She had looked so so tired and pale~~ … _

_ ”Zim made a Deal with one of the other hyuman, since the host-girl was indisposed at the time-and thus, unable to give the location of the Loughran parasite. But don’t fret My Tallests! The Irken Empire benefited from this Deal ten times as greatly as the hyumans did!”-Wait, no. Probably best to leave out the Deal all together...the Tallests might see it as a moment of weakness! Making Deals and ally ships and niceties with the natives, it was the opposite of what a Great Invader would do. What should Zim say instead?...Oh, yes,  _ perfect _.-“Zim then  _ **_demanded_ ** _ that they take me to the Loughran, and they were so  _ intimidated  _ by my Irken superiority that they, of course, agreed!”  _

_ Yes, yes that sounds much better.  _

_ “We found the Loughran out in the middle of one of the many large forests that grow here on this filthy backwater mudball of a planet.” _

_...The host-girl _ ~~_ had been so happy to be _ ~~ _ reunited _ _... ~~she even embraced~~ _ _ the Loughran… _

_ Why would the host of a parasite be so  _ ~~_ happy _ ~~ _ to see the parasite again? Shouldn’t it be glad to be rid of it? Especially after almost dying as a direct result of said attachment? It didn’t make any sense. But then, the two  _ were  _ very different from the reports-thanks to this weird perma-bond they claimed to have...and the Loughran’s disconnect from the hivemind. _

_ The Loughran attacking me, on the other claw, now  _ that  _ made sense. It sees Zim as a threat to its host-to its means of survival. But…why would the host-girl feel  _ ~~_ affection _ ~~ _ towards it in return? The Loughran needs her to live...but what does she gain from it? _

“Chomp was sent here as a newborn!” The host-girl’s panicked words suddenly echoed in Zim’s head.

_ The Loughran is merely a  _ ~~_ smeet _ ~~ _... _ _ a ~~smeet~~ _ _ that had no time to form a connection to the hivemind whole before it was jettisoned into space.  _ ~~_ Sent away to be forgotten, in order to be...protected…? Perhaps the girl feels protective of it because of that? _ ~~

_ The Loughran and the girl have been attached practically since it arrived on Urth. Their...‘relationship’ is much more complicated than Zim had originally thought. The two appear to be more than just parasite and host...they’re literally inseparable...and they seem to prefer it that way? _

~~_ They were all just smeets _ ~~ _~~.~~ They were all just smeets.  _ The same forbidden thought kept returning to him. 

Zim knew this. 

He’d called them smeets several times before-mostly as an insult-but now...now it was starting to sink in. 

Truly sink in.

They were all just smeets. 

The Loughran. 

The host-girl. 

The Dib-beast.

They were  _ all  _ just  _ smeets _ .

_ And Zim...Zim is an Invader. An Elite Irken Invader! The fact that they are all simply  _ **_smeets_ ** _ should  _ **_not_ ** _ change the fact that I came here to conquer this planet!! _

And yet…

_ And yet… _

_~~They are all just smeets~~ … _

…

“Uh...Master?”

…

“Master~?”

…

“Maaaaaster?”

…

“ _ Sigh _ ... **ZIM** !!”

“What! Whatwhatwhat!!!” Zim exploded, glaring up at the ceiling as he was suddenly brought back to reality.

“The Tallests hung up over an hour ago.” The Computer pointed out dryly.

“Eh?” Zim blinked slowly as his gaze returned to the blank teevee screen. “Oh, of course! I knew that.” He said sharply and dismissively as he stood as straight and as tall as he could, hands on his hips, with his head and antennae tilted back with pride.

“Suuure.” The Computer replied. “So...do you want me to make a written report for you, orrr…..?”

“In a moment,” He waved a claw airly over his shoulder as he marched towards the kitchen. “Zim should probably check out the readings from that Pod before I send a full report, anyway.” He climbed into the elevator that was disguised like a trashcan. “Computer! Bring me down to the Main Computer Level.”

GIR didn’t hesitate to turn the teevee back on once Zim had vanished below ground.

***

“What about Tenn?”

“No, she’s on Meekrob, we’d need someone who’s free to go on a long journey  _ now _ .”

“What about Larb?”

“No.” Almighty Tallest Red sighed. “ _ He’s _ on  _ Vort _ .”

“What about Flobee?” Almighty Tallest Purple suggested.

“No!” Red snapped in frustration. “Stop suggesting the Invaders from Operation Impending Doom II! We need someone who is  _ free _ ! As in, able to go Right  _ Now _ ! Do you seriously not know the name of any other Elites?”

Purple sighed, then grumbled while complaining under his breath about how he was too busy doing  _ important  _ Tallest stuff to memorize  _ every single  _ Irken’s name. He flipped around on the couch so his bare feet were pressing uncomfortably into Red’s side, then started kicking and pushing until the other Tallest was fully squished against the armrest of their shared Vortian couch. 

Purple then gave his Co-Ruler a miserable look as he himself fully stretched out along the length of the couch. Resting his head against the other arm rest, he stuffed a sweet roll into his mouth, and purposefully chewed it slow and loud-aiming it right at Red.

Red tried to ignore Purple the best he could; his own antennae pinned to his skull and eyes narrowed unhappily as he forced himself to focus on the tablet in his claws. All the while, Purple’s sharp toes dug into his waist, right into the tiny gap of the fabric between the top and bottom half of his armor-not enough to be a safety concern in battle, but definitely enough for him to feel Purple's gross sharp toe claws wiggle and press uncomfortably into his side. 

Red glared harder at the tablet as he scrolled through possible candidates-slowly starting to fail in his efforts to ignore Purple’s  _ stupid  _ smeetishness. He discarded any Irkens who were currently busy with other missions, or ones that he didn’t think were ‘responsible’ enough to handle the discretion that this new, secret mission would require. After all, they would have to sneak onto the planet, snag the Loughran, then leave, all without Zim finding out and retaliating in some way. Because it was an almost guarantee that the Smaller Defective would see the infiltration and extraction of the target as a threat to his so-called ‘mission’.

Meanwhile, Purple annoyingly continued to release and increase pressure against Red’s side-causing the Co-Tallest to rock slightly side to side with ever increasing speed and sway. 

Red let out a loud growl and bared his teeth as he accidentally hit the wrong button while trying to traverse the tablet’s screen thanks to Purple’s medling.

“My Tallests!” One of the Navigators called out just as Red was ready to snap. “We have an incoming transmission...from  _ Urth _ .”

Both Tallests groaned.

“Didn’t he just call us  _ yesterday _ ?!” Purple complained, now not-so-subtly kicking at Red to make him get up and answer it.

“Yes.” Red spat as he tossed the tablet at Purple (Purple let out a sputtering hiss as he uselessly clawed at the air in front of him, the tablet successfully smacking him square in the face). “And I’m sure he’s going to  _ continue  _ to call us every day, even if I tell him to  _ flirk off _ .” He stood up and went over to the main platform, antennae still leaning back with annoyance even as he found a spark of amusement at the sound of Purple’s hiss. Once he was in position, he nodded towards the magenta eyed Average Navigator, giving them permission to answer the call. 

Zim appeared on the large monitor, staring blankly for a moment. A stupid look on his  _ stupid  _ face as his mouth hung open. The Smaller seemed to snap out of whatever day dream he was having once he realized the call had been answered; he suddenly closed his mouth and bent in a salute-wiggling his antennae to show respect.

“Zim!” Red called out before the Defective Smaller could have a chance to speak. “We do  _ not  _ need daily reports from you! Stop calling us and just send us weekly  _ written  _ reports like  _ everyone  _ else!” He then quickly drew a line across his neck as he gave the Navigator a meaningful look. Successfully cutting off the transmission before Zim could even take a breath in to speak.

As Red made his way back towards the couch, he saw that his Co-Ruler was snickering to himself-most likely amused by the stunned look on the faux Invader’s face; thanks to Red’s bluntness. Although, it could have also been because Purple was now fully stretched out on the couch-taking up the whole thing as he munched noisily on a sweet roll with an annoyingly smug smirk on his face. 

Red snatched up his tablet from Purple’s lap-his antennae still leaning back with annoyance-then turned and sat down heavily on top of the other’s shins as he began scrolling again.

“What if he had an important update about the parasite?” Purple pointed out sensibly, speaking around his mouthful of food and seemingly uncaring that his legs were now pinned under Red. He reached out for another roll from one of the table-headed drones.

“Then he’ll call us back.” Red replied, keeping his eyes on his tablet. He honestly couldn’t care less. “Either that, or he’ll actually do as he’s  _ told _ -by some miracle-and actually send us a  _ written  _ report.” He tapped on the screen, then muttered. “And we won’t have to see his stupid, short face any more.”

Purple hummed thoughtfully, showing he understood, but didn’t really agree. Because, really, he doubted Zim would actually ever  _ follow  _ said orders. The Defective Smaller was more likely to keep calling them-every. single. day.-because, as they all knew, Zim was under some  _ deranged  _ delusion that Red and Purple liked talking to him face to face for some reason. Even though the two of them have  _ always  _ hated the Defect-and they had  _ never  _ been subtle about it. 

Even way back when they’d all first met in Elite Training under Almighty Tallest Miyuki-when the three of them were all a bit closer in height (although, there was still a  _ good  _ half foot of difference between Zim and the two of them, back when they were still considered Small at 5’4”). 

Before anyone knew just  _ how  _ Defective and destructive that stupid Smaller Irken really was. Back when everyone just thought that the Defect only went as far as his annoying personality and inability to actually follow orders properly. 

They all knew better now. 

Zim was probably the worst Defective to ever exist in Irken history! Or at least, he was the one with the longest list of crimes, because for  _ some unknown reason _ -even after everything he’s done-he was  _ somehow  _ still allowed to live!?

It honestly baffled Purple.

And, no matter what Zim tried to claim with his weird self-absorbed delusions, Red and Purple have never once gotten along with that annoying little bug.  _ Especially  _ because he would always follow them around-both during training and during their rare, precious free periods. Like some tiny lost smeet, constantly looking for attention and validation from those taller than him, all the while loudly gloating about- _ who cares! _

It was honestly such a happy day for both Red and Purple when Elite Training had finally ended and Zim was sent off to Vort; assigned as a Weapons Specialist Scientist Assistant under the _ -supposedly- _ watchful eye of Head Irken Scientist Taller Brane. Meanwhile, Red and Purple had been lucky enough to end up together on the Massive-albeit with different assignments-directly under Almighty Tallest Miyuki herself. Red had been assigned as a Navigator and strategist in the very bridge where they currently sat. While Purple himself, was assigned down in the Engine rooms of the ship-though it didn’t take long before he had his first growth spurt, gaining quite a bit of height and quickly moving him up that chain of command.

Purple remembered when-after a few months of working on the Massive-he’d gone to gloat to Red about his growth spurt. He had been surprised to find that his former training-mate was  _ still  _ the exact same height as him!

He wasn’t sure there ever  _ was  _ a time where either of them had been taller than the other...

Working on the Massive had been fun and easy, at least for a few years. Until Zim somehow created his little blob experiment, and managed to turn the  _ entire  _ Empire upside down in the span of a few  _ weeks  _ by killing  _ three separate Tallests! _

Then, shortly after Red and Purple were named Tallests, there was the Second Horrible Painful Overload Day-in which there was a planet wide blackout for several  _ years!  _ And, honestly, they probably should have seen something like that coming...since the  _ First  _ Horrible Painful Overload Day had happened mere  _ minutes  _ after the Defect’s activation. But, in their defense, they thought the issue with the system had been fixed, and no one could have predicted that the Defective would have found a  _ new  _ way to completely exploit and break the power grid...all because he had wanted a  _ snack. _

Then, there was the disaster that was Operation Impending Doom I; in which Zim wreaked havoc on Irk itself-massacuring nearly  _ half  _ the planet-before they could get enough soldiers gathered together to stop him!

And it was only  _ after  _ all of  **that,** that the current Tallests had  _ finally  _ managed to convince the Control Brains to banish the Smaller...only for him to come back, several years later, during the Great Assigning for Operation Impending Doom II, claiming that he had simply ‘quit being banished’!? Like,  **what!?**

And then he had the  _ audacity  _ to  _ demand  _ an Invader mission!?

Just thinking about it gave Purple an angry headache. 

And even with all that destruction in his wake, Zim  _ still  _ constantly acted like a little smeet-always seeking attention and praise, acting like he’s never done anything wrong in his life.

Even now, while he was a whole  _ galaxy  _ away, they still couldn’t seem to get far enough from his stupid face and annoying voice.

His constant need for their attention was probably even  _ worse  _ now, actually-now that Purple thought about it. More so than it had ever been back in training, because now, they were the  _ actual  _ Tallests-and not just some slightly taller training mates that Zim had decided to constantly tag along behind. Which means, his constant need for their attention was made a lot more persistent by the code in his PAK. The same code which told every other Irken to endlessly obey those who were taller than them, but, thanks to some glitch in Zim’s PAK, that basically translated more to: ‘need to constantly seek approval and be the center of attention to all those taller than me’.

Which was  _ soooo  _ annoying, and a little exhausting. It felt like they could never get rid of him, no matter how hard they tried-or how much they wanted to.

One would think, it would have been as easy as just deactivating him. Even throwing him out of an  _ airlock  _ should have been an easy thing to accomplish-and pretty fun to boot. But, since Zim’s already managed to take out  _ three  _ Tallests: Miyuki (blob monster), Brane (who had witnessed Miyiki’s demise-and just so happened to be the next tallest Irken-was promoted from his previous position as a scientist on Vort, only to have himself end up falling victim to that same blob creature less than  _ three  _ days later), and then Spork (who’s reign had only lasted a  _ week and a half _ before the blob got him, too). 

Purple suppressed a shudder at the thought of that blob monster Zim had created. It was still technically on the loose... _ somewhere. _ Because no one had managed to successfully capture or destroy it. That was actually the main reason Red and Purple never left the Massive, because at least here on the ship, they could guarantee that  _ thing  _ couldn’t get to them. 

With everything added together, it just wasn’t safe, or smart, or advisable to even  _ allow  _ Zim close enough to either Red or Purple-or even Irk itself-so they could actually go about deactivating him (or having him thrown out of an airlock, seriously, that was the  _ best  _ and most fun way to get rid of an annoying subordinate). There was just  _ no telling _ what sort of twist of fate would suddenly intervene and end up killing either Red, or Purple-or both-or Irk...while  _ some _ how, leaving that Smaller Defective Irken practically untouched! 

Just like all the other times he’s come in  _ direct  _ contact with a Tallest. 

They just couldn’t risk it. 

Didn’t  _ want  _ to risk it.

Because...Sizz-lorr was literally the  _ only  _ Taller Irken left. Everyone else was Tall or shorter. They seriously could  _ not  _ risk putting a  _ fry cook _ in charge of the Almighty Irken Empire! It would be an embarrassment!

Purple chewed away on yet another sweet roll, his antennae twitching ever so slightly in thought as he forced his eyes to become half lidded in a mock display of boredom. That way he could try and hide any hints of where his mind had  _ actually  _ ended up wondering for the last few minutes. He was currently watching the giant view screens’ display up front, the digital view of space lazily floated by outside. He tried to focus on  _ it, _ rather than that Defective menace. 

The Massive was currently in an unpopulated area of space. There was literally  _ nothing  _ interesting to see besides blackness and the occasional speck of a star far in the distance. Even so, the view seemed to be able to keep his attention, at least for a little bit, while he tried to clear his mind of  _ Zim _ . 

Which he managed to do, for all of about thirty seconds. 

As thoughts of Zim started to invade his mind again, Purple decided to turn his eyes towards his Co-Ruler as a means for a new distraction.

Red took a few sips of his bubbly sweet drink, his ruby eyes still intensely focused on his tablet as he made his way through the possible candidates. Unfortunately, it seemed he kept finding one reason or another to keep dismissing every one he came across. His antennae would twitch occasionally in annoyance, while there was this almost comical grumpy and serious look on his face.

A quiet growl escaped from the back of Red’s throat after several prolonged minutes of silence and a new thought suddenly struck Purple.

“What if we outsourced to a bounty hunter or something?” He suggested, as he brushed some crumbs off his chest and onto the floor-where it was quickly swept up by an attending drone. He was mostly picking back up on their previous conversation-as if nothing had happened to interrupt it. Though, the thought had only occurred to him because a small part of his mind was still playing with a few ideas on how to take Zim out, without risking their own lives as well-which was how this particularly brilliant idea had appeared to him.

“A bounty hunter?” Red asked distractedly. He didn’t look up from his tablet as he set his drink atop a table-headed drone. Though one of his antennae twitched towards Purple, showing he was listening. “Like who? We’d need someone who is either able to  _ see  _ it, or at the very least, has the technology to observe it. That doesn’t exactly give us many options.”

“What about an Yautja? They can see heat signatures, right?” Purple stuffed half a sweet roll into his mouth, so he could hold up his own tablet’s screen towards his Co-ruler. 

Red glanced at the screen, his first thought was wondering how long Purple had had his own tablet out. But that was quickly forgotten, as the image on the screen caught his eye, and all his thoughts were suddenly replaced by just how absolutely  _ revolting  _ the alien was! It was assaulting his eyes and would probably haunt his dreams-if he ever actually took the time to power down and sleep. The creature was a dull, muddy brown color with a horrifying four prong mouth-which opened up into a large fleshy square that took up more than  _ half  _ its face. How could the Yautja even call that a  _ face! _ It was one of the ugliest things Red had ever seen!

“And they’re pretty famous bounty hunters, too.” Purple was saying, a smug look on his face as he enjoyed Red’s disgusted and openly shocked expression. “The reviews say that the Yautja always successfully get their target, or  _ twice  _ your monies back!”

“Aren’t they famous for bringing their targets back dead, though?” Red said, the look of disgust still scrunching up his face-his tongue stuck out slightly and his antenna shuddered against the back of his head as he brought his attention back to his own tablet for a moment. “I thought you wanted the parasite alive for experiments and junk.” It was more of a statement than a question, as he then turned and met his Co-Ruler’s eyes.

“...Hm.” Purple brought the tablet back to his own face and squinted at the screen, his antennae bobbing forward thoughtfully. “We could promise to pay them extra if they brought it back alive...and then, ya know, not.”

“Hmm, maybe.” Red reached to the side and grabbed a new drinking cup from one of the table-headed drones. He slurped away at the sweet, bubbly liquid while looking back down at his own tablet thoughtfully. “A bounty hunter may not be a bad idea though.” He admitted after a moment, turning back to Purple and setting the drink aside once more. “Since all of our Elites are busy with Operation Impending Doom II-and other such missions. We  _ could  _ outsource, at least until an actual Irken becomes available.” He paused. “Though, we’d probably have to figure out how to capture a host with it...and most bounty hunters would  _ probably  _ consider that  _ two  _ targets. Which means they’ll try to charge us extra. Not like we’d actually  _ pay  _ them. But it’d still be insulting that they’ll try.”

Purple made a non-committal hum in the back of his throat, still preoccupied with his own tablet as he read through the reviews for different galactic bounty hunters. “It’d be nice if we could add Zim’s PAK to the bounty while we’re at it. You know he’d just try and stop any alien from stepping foot on that planet, even if we give him a heads up that  _ we’re  _ the ones sending them. Because he’s stupid enough to think they’d be trying to take over his stupid fake mission or something. Plus, if we could just have someone else deactivate him for us, it’d be pretty convenient.”

Red gave a small hum of his own in replay. “They’d probably charge us four or five times the normal rate if we added Zim.” He mused, half jokingly. Though, honestly, it was a very real possibility. That stupid Defective had quite the reputation. Red wouldn’t be surprised if he was just as notorious among the likes of intergalactic bounty hunters as he was among the Irken race themselves.

“Should we send out a mass transmission then?” Purple asked, after reading through a few more recommendations-not really finding any that truly grabbed his interest past the Yautja, but figuring it was worth a shot to reach out to as many potential aliens as possible. “I could record it right now and send it out.” He tried to wiggle his legs free so he could get up, but they were still firmly pinned under Red’s weight. 

“No,” Red said casually, picking up his drink again and taking a slow sip, unperturbed by Purple’s subtle wriggling. “if we get too many answers up front, it’ll just start a bidding war. Plus, I’m not sure I like the idea of just,  _ announcing  _ to the universe that there’s still a Loughran left alive, after we supposedly wiped them all out. It’ll make us look sloppy-and the last thing we want is for any  _ inferior  _ races to think they stand a shadow of a chance against the Might of the Irken Empire.” He pointed out before taking a few more uncaring gulps of his drink, glancing down at his tablet. Then he added reasonably: “We’d be better off doing some more research first. Plus, we still need to get the report from Zim. I’m sure it’ll be mostly useless, but there might be  _ some  _ information in it that’ll need to be passed along to whoever we end up hiring.” He paused as he took another sip then directed his gaze back to Purple-waving the cup around as he spoke. “Plus we still need to figure out who would actually have the ability to see  _ and  _ capture the thing-though I guess we  _ could  _ always let them borrow some of our technology?...Hmm, we could charge them for the use of our tech-possibly break even if we did that.” He chuckled at the thought and an almost sinister smirk played at his lips as he brought the drink back up to his mouth.

“Plus,” Red continued, mostly ignoring the fact that he was still being bounced slightly by Purple’s kicking. “they’d need to capture it with a host that won't be too annoying for us to have to keep around as well. Especially with how  _ you  _ do your experiments,” He added offhandedly, his antennae flicking subtly as he gave Purple a knowing glare, “we’ll probably want something that’s quiet and also doesn’t require a lot of snacking-so we don’t have to dip into our snack reserves.” He took another sip. “And even if we charge them to use our tech, they’d still probably try to charge us extra for capturing a host-and even  _ more  _ if we add Zim to the list. And we can’t just  _ not  _ pay them.” He said, contradicting himself as a new thought occurred to him. He gave Purple a sharp glare as the other opened his mouth to say something. “Because they’re  _ bounty hunters,  _ Purple _. _ And I’m sure there’s someone out there-possible  _ several  _ someones-who would pay a large sum for our handsome Irken heads. And, if we’re not careful with choosing who we hire, they may take advantage of that fact, and when they come here to turn the parasite-and its host-over to us,  _ we  _ could end up their next target. Which means, we’ll have to do  _ quite a bit of research _ to make sure whoever we  _ do  _ end up hiring, won't just turn on us the first chance they get...Or worse, try to blackmail and overcharge us, to make us avoid such an assassinaion.”

“It’s a lot of stuff to consider,” Red said with a sigh, taking another sip of his drink as his PAK started to press against the couch with some slight discomfort. Purple’s feeble kicking had slowly been picking up its intensity as he continued to talk, and as a result the ruby eyed Irken had started to slide down in his seat. 

“Which is why an  _ Irken  _ would be the smarter choice.” Red continued with his lecture, still mostly unaffected by Purple’s kicking. “But, seeing that no one is  _ available, _ we’re out of options. That is, if we want that Loughran sooner rather than later.” He sat his drink aside as he said that last part, predicting that what he was about to say  _ next  _ would just increase Purple’s petulant protests. And, Red really wasn’t in the mood to accidentally spill the liquid on himself-or the couch right now. Especially since he was already slouched at a pretty steep angle from all the jostling, which meant the drink would just end up going all over him-and sadly miss hitting his annoying Co-Ruler. “I know if we wait, we risk losing track of its location, but we can’t exactly put out a Wanted transmission until  _ after  _ we get all the information we need  _ first _ . Also. It’d probably be best to just send the offer out one at a time-to those we think we can trust with the job-rather than a mass message. Because  _ that’s  _ the only way to really make sure no one tries to cheat us out of our monies by starting a bidding war...or try to assassinate us.”

“That’s going to take  _ foreeevveer _ .” Purple complained, just as Red had predicted he would. The amethyst eyed Irken grumpily tossed a sweet roll at the side of Red’s head-missing it by a fairly large margin-before he really started to flail his legs unhappily. Trying, and failing, to kick the other off the couch all together. 

“Probably.” Came the still casual replay from Red, as he lazily watched the sweet roll fly past him. All the while, he continued to  _ very  _ slowly slide down in his seat as Purple continued his not-so-subtle tantrum. “But that’s the best way for us to pick the best candidate-while also controlling the price of the bounty.  _ And  _ keeping our own lives intact.” His eyes moved down towards his tablet and he tapped the screen a few times with a single claw. A bored expression displaying on his face-well, as bored as he  _ could  _ look, while being roughly jostled about in his seat. “Then again, Option C could always be giving Zim the order to capture the parasite-along with a stupid helpless host-and have him send both of them to us...and you  _ know  _ he’d want to deliver them personally himself.” He reminded, trying to hide the hint of a smug smirk from playing on his lips as he watched Purple out of the corner of his eyes. “Which means he’d come  _ all  _ the way here to the Massive. Where  _ we  _ are.” 

“Ugh, please! No!  _ Anything  _ but that!” Purple wailed dramatically as his legs finally stilled. He draped an arm over his face while a loud, low, rapid clicking sound emitted from the back of his throat.

“Bounty hunter it is then.” Red confirmed smuggly, returning his attention fully to his tablet before repositioning into a more comfortable sitting position-still mostly on top of his Co-Ruler.

***

When Zim arrived in the Main Computer Room, he sat down in the big purple plush chair that faced the plethora of giant computer monitors. Once he was settled and comfortable, the first thing he did was look up at the security footage which still showed the live feeds from the two hyuman houses.

Except half of the video feeds were now dead.

“EH!?”

He quickly leaned forward and typed away at the closest keyboard; rewinding the footage so he could see exactly where, when, and  _ how  _ half the feeds had cut out! 

It wasn’t until they were all rewound to the moments before dying, that he realized that  _ every single one  _ had been from the Dib-beasts house.

In fact,  _ all  _ of the cameras from the Dib-filth’s house were now obsolete?! 

Zim glanced at the other half of the screen.  _ The host-girl’s are all still fully operational though... _

Zim quickly turned his focus back to the recorded footage and began to play each camera one at a time. 

Upon further review, he discovered that _all_ of the cameras that had been at the Dib-beast’s base weren’t just offline, they had all been completely _destroyed!_ With no clear indication as to _what_ , exactly, attacked them? And there wasn’t even a _single one_ remaining functional!?

The best Zim could guess from the recordings; it appeared as if something approached the cameras from their one and only blind spot-directly behind them-one by one, strategically over the span of only a minute and a half-and electrocuted them...or, something, which caused them to short circuit. Then, once they were offline, the spy drones were  _ completely  _ destroyed. Not a single one gave any sort of a response or readings of any sort! And not a single one appeared to have recorded any sort of evidence as to what had actually attacked them!?

They were all completely and utterly offline and  _ useless. _

Whatever it was that had destroyed them, had either been extremely lucky...or somehow knew enough about Irken tech to be able to take them all out quickly, and effectively, without getting caught. 

Both options made Zim feel very uneasy. His antennae tilted back with a slight twitch as his eyes narrowed.

And, to make matters even eerier, there was barely any information recorded before they were all destroyed that Zim hadn’t  _ already  _ seen himself, live, while he was watching them the night before...just empty rooms or the humans going about their early morning-time rituals, before leaving for the day.

It was as if the cameras were all destroyed purposefully...mere moments after he had left for skool...when he was no longer watching them and able to redirect the view to one of the other cameras to investigate as the feeds died out...

Zim’s antennae pressed firmly against the top of his head as he narrowed his eyes further. He felt angry, and nervous, and suspicious all at the same time. The ‘not knowing’ part of this whole thing uncomfortably eating away at his spooch. He was definitely going to have to send more drones back to that building. He needed to keep an eye on it and investigate this fluke further. 

His eyes slowly drifted over to the host-girl’s security feed. All of  _ it  _ was still in perfect working order; in fact, at this very moment, Zim could clearly see the girl tucked away in bed, already sound asleep...even though there was a single lamp still illuminated in the far corner of the room. 

Zim examined the room for a moment before spotting the Loughran on the screen; it was hazy and ghost-like on the feed-but still visible thanks to the  **superiority** of Irken technology. It looked like it was currently messing with the Pod, sitting hunched over the vessel under the lamp opposite the sleeping girl. 

The Loughran still mostly looked like the feathery monster it had first appeared as...though, now the ‘feathers’ on its ‘wings’ were almost nonexistent-and in their place, it had...hyuman hands!? Which it was currently using to manipulate the Pod. 

Zim visually cringed and shivered with disgust, as the cursed image of the hybrid abomination burned into his PAK. 

He tried not to look too closely at the parasite as he forced his eyes back to the screen, squinting so he could focus. It appeared that the Loughran had yet to have any actual luck with opening the small ship. It kept turning the Pod around, poking and prodding at different parts of the machine. Zim couldn’t see any indication that it had made any actual progress with the thing, even though it must have been messing with it for at least the last two hours. 

Speaking of which...

Zim reached forward to type away at the keyboard again, the command caused a small monitor to pull away from the wall and swivel towards him. As it got closer, the screen lit up and a stream of data appeared; showing the information that he had secretly downloaded from the Pod while the two hyumans were unconscious, and the Loughran had been  _ stupidly  _ ignoring him.

Zim’s eyes scanned the screen as he started to read over the information, a smug smirk tugging on his lips. 

Most of the information was actually pretty useless, just numbers and analytics of the different components that made up the interior and its hull. Zim’s eyes just glossed right over all the boring numbers as he scanned the data. But then he saw the last part...

**Materials: Majority Tungsten, Traces of Iridium, Small Traces of Cordial Pelt, Multiple Traces of Several Different Electrical Components**

**Origins: Appears to be Mostly Vortian Technology with Traces of Siel, Drogon, and an Unknown Race**

**Functionality: Most Likely an Escape Pod. Main Function Appears to be Cryosleep**

**Fuel Source: Solar Powered, Small Backup Battery**

**Data: A Map of the Flight Path Traveled from the Loughan's Home Planet to Urth, Timestamp of the Trip, Vital Signs of the Loughran Smeet Throughout the Journey, One Pre-Recorded Message Sent Two Months after Launch**

Zim's antennae perked with curiosity at that last part. He sat up straighter and typed away at the keyboard, bringing up that file. A still image of the video appeared on the screen. Front and center was a dull purple Vortian, and, just behind her, was a hazy and ghost-like apparition which was shaped like a slightly taller, deep-gray Vortian. Zim's antennae twitched with anticipation and curiosity as he tapped play.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> List of Irken ranks/heights (my own personal HC: See the full list in the Notes of Chapter 7)   
> I'm Posting them again here because there have been some small modifications since I originally posted them, and I just want to make sure everyone has seen them (namely, I decided to make Membrane taller so I had to adjust the chart because I still wanted him to be shorter than Red and Purple). Also there's several references to the chart in this chapter so I figured it'd be useful to post it again since it doesn't come up that often (though it is important lore lol)  
> Smeet range from the size of a potato to about 2 foot  
> Smallest are 2-3 foot  
> Smaller are 4-5 foot  
> Small are 5-5'5"  
> Average are 5'5"-5'8"  
> Tall are 5'9"-6'5"  
> Taller are 6'5"-6'11" The upper range of this height changes base on how tall the current Tallest are (ie, for Miyuki, Taller capped out at 7'7") but other heights/ranks keep the same range.  
> Tallest are 7' and up
> 
> Zim is the same height as Dib, at 4'9" (rough average of 12 year old males) Kailah is just a bit shorter at 4'6" Gaz would probably be somewhere in-between, they'd all be listed as Smallest.  
> Red and Purple are exactly 7 foot tall (with Spork being about 6'10", Brane 6'11", and Miyuki being the tallest Tallest at 7'8")
> 
> Red and Purple were honestly so fun to write to write this chapter, but I have no clue what type of dynamic I'm going for with them XD they seem to simultaneously get along, and hate each other
> 
> Chomp's appearance is inspired by the wonderful artwork of Nikkilancaco https://nikkilancaco.tumblr.com/post/621780040069300224/velociraptoraddict-here-is-that-slightly-cursed
> 
> Yautja are the aliens from the Predator movies.   
> Cordial, Siel, Drogon (and Loughran) all come from randomized dragon names from the website Flight Rising.   
> Also, the "Unknown Race" from the report is just Loughran technology, it's basically a hybrid of all the other alien technology so the Computer has difficulty recognizing it


	19. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all!  
> Sorry for the delay on this chapter ^_^; I don't really have a good excuse. I got invited into the Moo-Ping 10 Discord server and have been thoroughly Distracted as a result. 
> 
> Plus, writing/editing this chapter was a bit of a nightmare. Kailah's POV was originally just supposed to be a few paragraphs basically saying what she was doing while skipping skool and the rest of the chapter was supposed to be Dib and Zim shenanigans as they tried to survive skool and possibly each other, and, well, that's 100% not what any of this chapter ended up being lol
> 
> To clear up any possible confusion, Kailah's POV is Thursday night (right after Zim and Dib dropped her and Chomp off). Zim's POV is also Thursday night, but several hours later (after his failed call to the Tallests). And Dib's POV is Friday morning in the classroom

**Chapter 18**

After  _ finally  _ making it home-seemingly against all odds with how  _ stressful  _ the events of the day had been-Kailah managed to drag her feet like some kind of shambling zombie across the threshold from the backyard and into the kitchen, effectively sneaking into her house. 

She held the door open just long enough for Chomp to slip in behind her, before silently and carefully closed it again-hoping not to alert her parents that she was home just yet. Between the raging headache and loud grumbling of her stomach, she needed to have just a  _ little  _ more time to prepare herself mentally before letting them know she was home, because, undoubtedly, once she came face to face with her parents-namely her  _ mom _ -she would be asked dozens of questions regarding her health, and appearance...and lateness. 

Especially since her behavior this morning had seemed to worry her mom enough for her to suggest she stay home. Kailah could understand-and even appreciate the concern-but that just meant she had to come up with a very believable cover story to explain everything  _ before  _ she could let her parents know she was home. 

Her mom was pretty good at catching her in her lies, if she didn’t have something prepared ahead of time; mostly because Kailah never seemed to be able to successfully summon her amazing poker face when it was her  _ mom  _ who was the interrogator.

Straining her ears, she could hear the obvious sound of a sitcom playing on the TV in the living room-her dad chuckling at a joke alongside the fake audience. Kailah silently passed the Pod over to Chomp before taking off her backpack and going about dusting herself off. She then ran her hands through her hair-which she quickly found was actually pretty tangled up after being violently windblown...thanks to  _ Zim  _ opening the ship’s cockpit in a rude attempt to wake her up just a few minutes prior. 

She winced and gritted her teeth more than a few times as she tried to work out the knots with just her fingers. It took several minutes, but, once she felt her hair was reasonable, she squared her shoulders and tugged at her hoodie one last time-just to make sure it was smooth and looked ‘natural’. 

Turning towards her Bondmate, with a determined look slipping onto her face, Kailah thought:  _ How do I look? _ She did a quick turn around in the middle of the kitchen, letting Chomp get a good look of her.

_ Tired.  _ Came the honest reply. _ Clean enough, though. Less dirty than the others are.  _ They half joked, an image of Dib and Zim looking absolutely  _ ragged  _ flashing between them. Then, a bit more seriously, Chomp added: _ How’s your hand? _

_ Fine?  _ She held up her spider-bitten hand to examine it, flexing the fingers a bit as she tested it.  _ Swellings pretty much gone, it still itches a little, but not as bad as it did...the bites are still visible though... _ She glanced up at Chomp as a new thought hit her.  _ Do you think I could blame  _ it  _ for the exhaustion earlier? Think my parents would buy that? _

A thoughtful, mental hum sounded in her mind from the multivoiced Loughran.  _ Possible. Though, you’re mom’s usually pretty observant. She may remember not seeing the bites this morning. _

_ Nah, I think she was more focused on whether I had a fever. I don’t think she actually looked at my hand.  _ She thought, sounding more confident than she actually felt-considering that a lot of this morning was still a hazy blur for her.

Another thoughtful hum sounded, not quite convinced.  _ We can try to blame it then, though, that would mean that you would have gotten bitten sometime between the end of skool, and returning home last night. Since you went straight to sleep... _ They tilted their head slightly,  _ We could also try blaming the lack of dinner for the lack of energy this morning? _

Kailah nodded.  _ Alright, sound alibi.  _ She then gave a playful grin, though there was still a hint of sorrow and exhaustion in the corner of her eyes, mostly coming from the Loughran’s own side of the Bond. 

_ How about the burn? _ They asked, concern sounded behind the words.

Kailah let out a soft, curious hum of her own as she turned her hand to look at the circular red mark which now sat at the base of her pinkie-right where Zim’s weird metal laser leg thing had threatened to remove said finger.  _ It stings a little, but it’s barely a first degree. I’m sure it’ll be gone in a day or so...so, technically no real damage done. _

Kailah felt the not-so-subtle flare of anger and guilt at the memory of helplessness they had both felt during that confrontation. She looked up and tried to give her Bondmate a soft, reassuring smile.

_ It’s okay now.  _ She thought.  _ We’re home. We’re together. We’re safe. It’s over. _

They simply nodded, the emotions dimming as they accepted her assurances.

_ Go on ahead and head up to the room, _ She suggested. _ Get started on that Pod. I’ll let them know I’m home; make up some story about doing homework with friends or something-to explain the late arrival. Then I’ll be right up after dinner. _

_ Okay. Don’t forget to grab water, too. Not just a soda.  _

_ Yes, mom.  _ She thought, a teasing smirk forcing its way onto her face despite her effort to keep it hidden as Chomp playfully rolled their eyes in return at the comment. 

Her Bondmate turned towards the stairs with the Pod tucked under one wing. They glanced over their shoulder one last time-a sense of affection flowing freely through the Bond towards her-before they made their way up towards the bedroom.

Kailah smiled softly as she returned the feeling, her eyes closing briefly as she allowed herself to enjoy the warm sensation being shared between them. After a few seconds, she took a slow breath in-feeling a bit more at peace and now ready for the conversation ahead. 

With this new sense of determination and confidence, she opened her eyes and turned her attention towards the living room as she put her backpack back on. She mentally rehearsed her story one last time, just to make sure it all lined up perfectly-Chomp making one or two helpful suggestions as she did. 

She needed to be certain she could parry any of her mom’s possible questions without tripping up or accidentally exposing the truth. 

_ Okay. Let’s do this.  _ She gave a single sharp nod, then- _ finally _ -snuck out into the other room. Keeping to the growing shadows along the side wall from the setting sun outside, silently grateful to the fact that her parents hadn’t yet turned on the lights. 

As neither of her parents gave any immediate sign of noticing her, Kailah quietly continued to move along the wall towards the front door-occasionally glancing over at them as she did to make sure she remained undetected. 

Silently arriving at the door without incident, she watched the backs of her parents’ heads for a few heartbeats longer, before she took one last calming breath in, and double checked her appearance. She then opened and closed the front door; letting out a casual greeting as she pretended that she had just arrived home...only in that moment realizing she  _ probably  _ could have just went back out through the kitchen door and walked around the outside of the house instead of sneaking  _ through  _ it to get to the front door... 

Oh well, at least she had gotten lucky and it didn’t backfire on her in any way. Just something to keep in mind for the  _ next  _ time she had to sneak in...if there was a next time.

“Oh! Hey kiddo.” Her mom said with a hint of surprise, turning around from where she sat on the couch as the door closed. She pushed herself to her feet and quickly made her way over to Kailah-immediately putting the back of her hand to her daughter’s forehead the moment she got close enough to-Kailah allowed herself a small, awkward laugh as she did. 

“How are you feeling? You  _ look  _ better-well, less pale than this morning.” Her mom continued, hand moving from Kailah’s forehead to her cheek, the girl opened her mouth to respond but her mom just kept going, not really giving her a chance to respond. “Temp still feels fine.” Hand to the other cheek. “Why are you home so late? We were starting to worry. Did you end up going to the nurse at all?” She started brushing the girl’s hair aside to better see her face. “How was that math test you were so worried about?” A tiny pause as her eyes darted over Kailah’s face then to the hair gathered in her hand. “Why is your hair such a mess?” She removed her hand and took a step back so she could look her daughter over fully-both hands now lightly resting on her hips. “And  _ why  _ are your clothes so dirty?”

As her mom’s worried, prodding hand finally finished exploring her face, Kailah found herself relieved that the onslaught of question had ended. That is, until that last question registered and she saw her mom giving her that ‘you better tell me the truth’ type look that only a mother could truly give. Kailah couldn’t help but shrink a little at that, and even found herself taking a half step back before she could help it. She quickly tried to regain her composure and started answering the questions before her mom could get too suspicious. 

“I’m feeling much better now, mom.” She said, brushing her own hair out of her eyes and tucking a strand behind her ear, trying to hide her nervousness as she kept her voice light and cheerful. “I uh, think I figured out what was wrong this morning.” She casually held up her spider-bitten hand, hoping it would be a sufficient distraction from whatever expression may accidentally slip onto her face as she spoke. “I got bit yesterday, saving a poor little spider from some kids in class.” Her mom took the bait and grabbed her hand to examine it closer. “It wasn’t venomous,” Kailah quickly placated as she saw her mom’s worried expression. 

Her mom didn’t exactly look reassured at the words-she did however, look resigned. Because, this wasn’t the first time her loving-yet crazy-daughter had risked her own health or safety for something like a bug. In fact, the child had a history of almost getting in fights with her peers over such critters, even as far back as her mother could remember. 

“I got some benadryl from the nurse this morning,” Kailah continued as her mom turned her hand this way and that-even going so far as to move her fingers about to make sure there wasn’t any visible nerve damage. “-and I started to feel pretty good soon after that.” Kailah said, while silently praying that her mom wouldn’t notice the burn mark by her pinkie and start asking about it. “And the reason I’m late getting home, is cause I was working on some homework with a friend. My hoodie probably got dirty cause I was, uh, we were doing homework in the park, and I may or may not have laid down in the dirt-without really thinking about it.” She gave a nervous smile, hoping that the excuse was convincing enough.

“A friend?” Her mom said, sounding almost happily surprised as she slowly let go of her daughter’s hand. She appeared to have bought the rest of the story as she gave Kailah a curious look, prompting her to explain further.

“Oh, uh, yeah, his name’s Dib.” Kailah gave a casual shrug as she let her hand fall back to her side, silently debating if it was a good or bad thing to tell her parents about the boy who believed in aliens.  _ Too late now, _ She thought with a grimace as she shrugged a second time to shift the weight of her backpack while also awkwardly shuffling her feet. “He’s in my class…? But, uh, we’ve only really just started talking earlier this week. A lot of the other kids tend to tease and bully him, but I think he’s actually pretty nice?”

“Is that so?” There was a hint of  _ something  _ behind her mother’s words and an odd gleam in her eyes-Kailah wasn’t quite sure what either of those meant. “Well, are you hungry for dinner?” Her mom said, changing the topic before either Kailah or her Bondmate had a chance to try and puzzle out the meaning behind that weird knowing smirk her mom wore. “I think you’re father was just about to get it started.” She said, turning towards the couch where the accused was still sitting, TV muted and remote loosely in his hand as he watched his two girls talk. 

“Starving!” Kailah said, shooting a grin over at him as her stomach loudly agreed.

“Alright, alright.” He said, amused and taking the hint. “Chicken sound alright with you ladies?” He set the remote down as he stood up.

“Yes, please!” Kailah responded as she enthusiastically took the opportunity to move away from her mom. She dumped her backpack by the couch before practically skipping after her dad into the kitchen. 

Her mom simply gave a soft chuckle as she casually sat back down on the couch and scooped up the remote to unmute the TV. 

Meanwhile, Kailah helped her dad prep for dinner-’secretly’ snacking on a few cherry tomatoes as she watched him mix up the salad. When he started grilling up the chicken, she went and set the dining room table for the three of them.

Once dinner was ready, they all settled in at the table and started eating; with Kailah eating a little more enthusiastically than usual. She quickly made her way through about three glasses of water and two helpings of chicken and veggies before either of her parents had a chance to finish their first helping. 

Her parents exchanged glances in the background and her father finally decided to comment on it as Kailah reached for yet another helping of salad. 

She tried to casually brush it off by reminding him she’d missed dinner the night before, and breakfast that morning-and her lunch just wasn’t enough to really fill her after two missed meals. Plus, she was a ‘growing girl’, right? Wasn’t it normal to be this hungry? 

Even though, in the back of her mind, she knew it was probably some kind of side effect from the whole ‘almost dying’ thing. And that  _ did  _ actually worry her a little, but she tried not to show it.

Both her parents seemed satisfied enough though, with the answer she gave, as they simply let the subject drop and finished their own meals.

“Hey, Kay.” Her mom said after a few minutes-once it looked like her daughter had slowed down enough to hold a proper conversation. The woman’s tone was casual, but clearly hinted at an important ‘Talk’ about to be had.

“Yeah?” Kailah responded, taking a sip of water to hide her uneasy suspicion as her mind began to run wild with all the possible topics her mom might be about to breach.

“This Dib boy that you mentioned-”

_ Oh please don’t tell me she’s about to ask-  _ Kailah thought.

_ That’s definitely the tone of voice she uses when she asks-  _ Chomp chimed in at the same instant.

“-do you like him?” Her mother finished, a hint of amusement in her eyes.

Kailah almost choked on her water.  _ Knew it!  _ They both thought.

She suppressed a groan and resisted rolling her eyes at the amused sensation she felt from her Bondmate-instead, opting to give a half hearted shrug while also refusing to meet her mom’s eyes. 

Kailah started slowly nursing her water in an attempt to stall-or, at the very least, try to out last her mom’s curiosity and noseyness. 

As she mentally reached for Chomp’s mind-in the hopes that they could give her some help in coming up with a response-she was suddenly and pleasantly surprised to discover that her head was no longer pounding; the concussion now reduced to a small ache just behind her eyes.

_ Oh, look at that,  _ the Loughran thought with teasing sarcasm,  _ water helped with your headache. Who would have thought. _

Her dad awkwardly cleared his throat, distracting her from properly responding to Chomp’s smugness. He stood up and started to gather up the dishes and make his way towards the kitchen.

Kailah watched him for a second, wishing she could just walk away from this conversation too. But, ever the patient woman, her mom was still sitting and waited for an actual, verbal response-her eyes glued to her daughter with that same, amused look playing in them. 

Eventually, Kailah sighed, knowing that at this point, there was no way out of this conversion. “I dunno, he’s just a friend? I mean, we’re in the same class. But I’ve only just actually started talking to him the past three days or so? I don’t exactly know him that well?” She kept her eyes on the glass in her hands as she took another sip.

“But he helped you with homework today?” Her mom prompted, sharp as always.

“Yeah? But, I mean...it was more like we were working on it together…? It wasn’t like-it wasn’t like either of us couldn’t have done it alone...” She mumbled and fidgeted with the glass. Really starting to regret the decision to include Dib in her cover story, but, her parents were bound to find out about him eventually, right? Since they were friends now. So, there wasn’t really any point in hiding him from them...

Her mom raised an eyebrow and the corner of her mouth twitched as she let out a soft “Oh?”. Kailah actually let the groan escape her throat that time, as she set the glass down on the table with a soft  _ clack _ .

“Moooom, it’s not like that!” She protested, folding her arms defensively so she wouldn’t end up swinging them around as she spoke. “He’s just-I don’t know. He’s just a  _ friend _ ?”  _ I mean, yeah, he saved my life. And now he knows our biggest secret. But we’ve only known him for, like, three days!  _

“Alright,” Her mom said, though it was pretty obvious she was still trying to suppress a smile and didn’t fully believe what Kailah was saying. “Well, have you thought about inviting this ‘friend’ of yours to your birthday dinner on Saturday?”

Kailah blinked and paused at that.  _ Oh, yeah...wow… _

_ You forgot didn’t you? _

_ Can you blame me?? The last two days haven’t exactly given me time to think about stuff like that! _

A flash of amusement quickly followed by guilt.  _ Sor- _

_ -Not your fault. _

_ Stil- _

_ -Chomp. _

A soft, mental sigh.

_...Should I? _ Kailah asked as she picked up the glass and started to sip at her water again.

A thoughtful pause.  _ It’s a little last minute, and if you parents agree to let you skip skool tomorrow, you won't exactly get a chance to ask him. But...  _ A slightly longer pause. Kailah could see in her mindseye Chomp quickly running through the different pros and cons-the pros greatly outweighing the latter as the lists grew. Chomp thought about how much Dib had helped them both by basically saving Kailah’s life today. Not only by convincing Zim to fly out to Ohio, but also by helping to fix the engine so they could get moving again after the crash...and then  _ he  _ was the one to actually  _ find  _ the Pod. 

They really did owe that kid a lot.

As for the cons...they mostly focused on having to introduce him to her parents-knowing there would be some ‘awkward and embarrassing’ conversations born from  _ that  _ interaction. But, really, there wasn’t anything worse than mild social interactions on the con list. And Chomp was pretty positive once the initial introductions were out of the way, the rest of the night would be like any normal, friendly hangout-with the parents hovering in the background while the kids ran off and played. Meaning, it’d be fun and casual, while also having their every movement watched from afar. But in a good way! Easy enough to ignore as they ran around the arcade and played games.

Plus, Dib  _ had  _ proven himself multiple times over the course of the day that he wanted to at least  _ try  _ to be Kailah’s friend…worrying about her health and safety, taking her seriously enough to actually answer her weirdly detailed questions about Vampires. And sure, he didn’t exactly intervene during either of Zim’s attacks, but Chomp couldn’t exactly blame him for that. Dib was only a kid...just like Kailah-he couldn’t have really done anything against...whatever Zim was.

Besides, even if the two Bondmates couldn’t be one hundred percent certain that Dib would actually keep his word; about keeping the Loughran’s existence a secret. It wasn’t like he’d shown any real signs that he  _ couldn’t  _ be trusted with it so far either. Glasses excluded...for now.

And, as Kailah herself had brought up just the other day, when he first started talking to her: he didn’t exactly have any friends. Which probably meant he’s never even been  _ invited  _ to a birthday party before. And, sure, Kailah’s  _ own  _ ‘party’ was just going to be her and her parents going to Bloaties for some games and pizza for an hour or so-since all her friends and relatives were still back in Pennsylvania. Nothing too exciting, but, it would probably still be more than anything Dib’s ever experienced...that is of course, assuming their assumptions about him were correct-based on how the other kids at skool were seen to treat him over the past month.

_ So, it’s settled then?  _ Kailah asked.

She received a sense of agreement in return, followed by a reflection of her own determination as the decision was made. She turned her attention back to her mom-the whole weighing of pros and cons only taking about five to eight seconds to actually occur.

“I haven’t yet,” Kailah said. “but if you’re okay with it, I can.” She gave a slight pause. “He has a sister, too. I haven’t really talked with her much, but I know she likes video games. Would it be okay if I invite her, too?”

“Of course,” Her mom beamed at her. “It’s your birthday kiddo, the more the merrier! You still want to go to Bloaties, right?”

Kailah gave a nod along with an enthusiastic hum, her mom smiled again in response.

“Then I’ll switch up the reservation, do you think six would still be okay for the start time?”

“Should be.” Kailah agreed with a slight shrug. “Oh, and mom?”

“Hm?” She inquired as she took a sip from her own glass.

“Would it be okay if I stayed home from skool tomorrow? Get a bit of a three day weekend as part of my birthday present?” She gave a hopeful smile with some big puppy-dog begging eyes.

“All your homework’s done?” Her mom asked, one eyebrow raised slightly as she was seemingly unimpressed by the expectant look.

“Yes.” She lied without hesitation.

“And you don’t have any quizzes or tests tomorrow?”

“Nope.” She kept her face smiling as a flare of guilt flashed at the memory of missing that math test today.  _ Whoops. _

“Hmm, alright.” Her mom returned the smile, not seeming to catch the hint of guilt in her daughter’s eyes. “You can stay home tomorrow then. Do you want me to take the day off too?” She asked a little eagerly. “Maybe do some mother/daughter stuff? We could get our nails done and maybe get you a haircut, hm?”

_ Tempting, but we still have to figure out the Pod… _

_ As long as you don’t go too far, I can stay here and play with it.  _ Chomp thought. _ You should have some fun with your mom. _

_ But what about the concussion? I almost passed out earlier and we weren’t even a quarter mile apart then! _

A short pause.  _ It feels better now...but yeah, I wouldn’t want to risk it...  _ A mental sigh.  _ And it  _ would  _ be best if you could just take the whole day to rest. And you can’t exactly do that if you’re running around town with your mom...you’ll have to pass then. _

“That sounds like fun,” Kailah said with a regretful smile, “But I was kinda hoping to just be able to sleep in and laze about. You can still take the day off if you want?” She quickly offered as her mom deflated a little. “Maybe we can watch some movies or something? And just hang out on the couch?”

“Maybe.” Her mom said with a wistful sigh. “But, probably best not to. That boss of mine never seems to take a day off, and I’ve only been in the Lab a month now. I’m not entirely sure how it would look if I suddenly asked for a day off last minute. And I don’t exactly get access to my sick or vacation days until the ninety day mark.” She explained as she relaxed back into her chair. “No, I should probably go into work tomorrow.” She added sadly, seeming more disappointed that she had even brought up the suggestion in the first place, than by her daughter technically rejecting it.

“I could take the day off.” Her dad offered, setting three large bowls of ice cream down on the table before taking his seat again. “A movie day sounds fun to me.”

***

Zim continued to stare at the screen for several moments once the video had ended for the fourth time. 

The language spoken had been undoubtedly Vortain, but the cadence and word choices were very...odd. It didn’t quite sound  _ natural _ -even though it was  _ obviously  _ coming from a Vortain with a normal Vortain accent? Something about it just wasn’t...right.

Eh. Either way, the message itself was clear; so Zim didn’t bother to ponder on the speech pattern for that long.

As the Almighty Irken Empire gathered up the Loughran and its many hosts-preparing them all for their doom-the parasite had sent away a tiny fragment of itself as a last resort to continue living. 

Even as it saw its own death approaching, the parasite seemed to think such an act would be enough to save it...or, perhaps give it a chance to start anew, far away from the Empire.

Zim wasn’t entirely sure what to make of it; should he condem it for being stupid enough to think it could actually successfully  _ escape  _ the  **Might** of the Empire?...Or commend it, for at least  _ trying  _ to continue to survive-rather than simply giving up and accepting its fate, like so many of the other races the Empire has gone up against. 

Obviously it was stupid, of course. And a largely waisted effort since  _ this  _ fragment was so easily discovered by the  _ amazing  _ Zim!

...But, still, it was clearly desperate to survive.

Zim turned his eyes up towards the security feed, to watch the last remaining fragment of the Loughran for a moment; his antennae dipping down below his head as he continued to mull all this new information over. 

The parasitic alien on the screen was still poking around at the Pod-still making absolutely no progress with opening the thing. Like it truly did not know how to operate it. 

And, if what the host-girl had said was true; it wouldn’t know. And if the video message Zim had discovered in the Pod’s coding was telling the truth. This little parasite really didn’t have  _ any clue  _ about anything past its own meaningless and pitiful existence here on this filthy stupid planet. The host-Vortain from the video had mentioned the lack of memories being a small possibility-thanks to how tiny of a fragment this Loughran actually was, and how quickly it was sent away from the rest of the Hive Mind after being split off. 

The host-Vortain basically confirmed that the Loughran whole was willing to risk it. Risk completely losing its memory and practically starting almost from scratch as a  _ species _ -as long as it still meant its own, ultimate survival.

“But, then, that would mean it really was all true? And not just some stupid trick the host-girl was trying to pull?”

The Loughran here on Urth had only just learned about the fate of the rest of it just two days prior, when Zim had announced it...it really was a smeet that knew  _ nothing.  _ And now it was just desperately trying to search for answers. 

“But why should Zim care!?” He crossed his arms defiantly, his antennae becoming more rigid against the back of his head as he glared up at the screen; at the host-girl, sleeping, and the Loughran, rolling the Pod around on the floor to examine it from all angles.

It was a  _ parasite _ ! A blight on the universe that the Almighty Irken Empire was trying to make better! Better by shaping it into their own image! Better by exterminating  _ all  _ those inferior than themselves! 

One day the Empire would stretch the length of the whole universe! 

Only Irkens-and the slaves they deemed  _ worthy  _ to live-would remain! 

That was the goal that led Zim himself to want to become an Invader-instead of a measly Scientist! That was the goal every Irken worked towards! That was something to be proud of! The perfect future that the entire Irken race strode for! Something to look forward to! Something to be proud of!

...Then why did he only feel those thoughts in his PAK? And not, also, in his organic shell?

Why did his organic shell feel so...heavy? 

And why did his spooch feel like it was trying to eat itself?

_ They’re all just smeets. _

Zim quickly and violently shook his head to get rid of that flickering thought that kept coming back. He jumped to his feet and turned away from the monitors before marching purposefully out of the room at a clip speed. 

Maybe if he found a project to work on he could get all these weird and conflicting thoughts out of his head. 

Maybe if he started focusing on his  _ original  _ mission of preparing this planet for Invasion and put the Loughran to the side for now he could-

_ Oh, right, he still had to send the report first. _

“Computer! I am ready to file the report to My Tallests! Pay close attention because Zim is about to speak!”

***

It shouldn’t be any surprise that Dib didn't get much sleep last night-less than two hours total-and, he’d honestly only managed to fall asleep for  _ that  _ long because of just how  _ exhausting  _ the whole day had ended up being-both physically and mentally. 

Under any other circumstances, everything that he had learned last  _ night,  _ would have kept him up for  _ days  _ on end. But, combined with the pure  _ exhaustion  _ of everything that happened yester _ day _ ? His brain alone just wasn’t enough to keep him up after all of that.

How had all of that really only been  _ one  _ day?! 

Dib was pretty sure he’d already had this thought multiple times last night-and several more since waking up this morning-but, seriously, between skipping skool, riding in a real life alien spaceship, crashing in the woods, witnessing two  _ aliens  _ fighting,  _ fixing  _ said spaceship, going on a scavenger hunt in the woods for a  _ different  _ piece of alien tech, flying back home, fixing his glasses, finding out he was a  **clone** ;  _ and  _ **then** eye surgery, along with an actual  _ talk  _ with his Dad?!-one where he was actually  _ heard _ , versus the usual kind where he was just being spoken to or lectured at...it...was, honestly,  _ so hard _ to believe all of that had all happened within the span of less than twenty four hours! And it was all  _ real _ . It had all really  _ happened _ ! It wasn’t just some crazy dream, or hallucination, or delusion. It had all happened!! 

And it was all such an  _ amazing  _ experience! Dib was right! Aliens were  **real** ! He was right! He got to fly in a  **spaceship** ! He was  _ right _ !! 

And another _human being_ **believed** him and _witnessed_ it all!

Unfortunately-even with all the excitement-Dib just couldn’t shake this weird feeling in the back of his head: he was a clone. 

His dad has been hiding this Big Secret from him and Gaz their whole lives, and now the truth was finally out. 

Dib now knew he and his sister were clones. 

He was still a  _ little  _ salty that his sister had somehow found out about it before he had (and  _ not told him _ ?!?), but, that discovery  _ had  _ led him to finally telling his ‘Dad’ how he really felt about the whole ‘physically and emotionally distancing’ thing the man’s been doing since they’ve been old enough to go to skool. 

And, now that Dib’s finally been able to admit to the man’s-mostly hidden-face that he wants to actually  _ spend time _ with his  _ Dad _ ...it was like his Dad was suddenly making an actual  _ effort  _ to show that he cared? Instead of just assuming his kids thought that he did…

He was even going so far as to actually offer to take a  _ whole day _ off work just...just to  _ hang out _ with his son!? That  _ never  _ happened!

Dib just hoped it wasn’t some fleeting phase...like, once this whole ‘clone’ thing settled down, and became a ‘normal’ part of their everyday life; Dib hoped his Dad wouldn’t just go right back to spending all his time in the Lab, while only seeing his kids for Family Dinner Night once a month. He really hoped that after things settled down, his Dad would still take the time to actually act like an  _ actual dad  _ and spend time with his ‘kids’-preferably without also trying to  _ constantly  _ push Dib into the field of Science.

But, right now, trying to wrap his head around the whole ‘clone’ thing should really be a more pressing concern to him-instead of the threat of a career in science...or whether or not his Dad would go right back to ignoring him and Gaz in a few weeks time. 

However, it was  _ still  _ a bit of a struggle, even as he tried to force his thoughts to focus on coming to terms with being a clone; all his brain wanted to focus on was a possible future where his Dad was around more-where he had a happy, ‘normal’ family-with nightly dinners, and week long vacations, and movie nights…even boring stuff like trips to the grocery store or watching whatever was on TV was now so much more appealing to him. 

No. He really should focus on the existential crisis that came with being the result of some  _ science  _ experiment by the World’s Most Famous Scientist of All Time...that was then promptly left behind...once the novelty of having a kid wore off.

Ah, there it was. Now that his thoughts were focused on that, Dib’s leg began to bounce.

_ I mean...I’ve technically been a clone my whole life...I just didn’t know it before.  _

Did it really mean everything was different? Just because he was now  _ aware  _ of that fact? 

_ Sure, the fact that I’m aware of it now, means it can influence my actions and ‘Sense of Self’ moving forward, But that doesn’t mean I should let it bother me, right?  _

_ And they say ‘ignorance is bliss’-and this is probably a  _ great  _ example as to  _ **_why_ ** _. But that still doesn’t mean I should just  _ **_ignore_ ** _ this, or let it bother me! Right?  _

_ I’m still  _ **_me_ ** _!...Right?  _

_ Just because I’m a clone doesn’t make me any less  _ **_Dib_ ** _. _

_...doesn’t it...? _

Wait... _ Was  _ he even a clone? 

He wasn’t a one-to-one match for his Dad’s DNA...he was fifty percent Professor Membrane, and fifty percent...a bunch of other people? That would technically not make him a clone then, right? More like...a test tube baby-or whatever the proper term for that was.

Dib hated that thought more than any of the others he’d had so far on the subject. 

_ I’d rather just pretend I’m a clone. _

A clone with some extra DNA. 

That...actually helped. It made him feel a bit more like... _ him _ , like an individual person, rather than a mini version of his... _ Creator _ . 

The extra DNA made him unique. 

Made him Dib.

A new thought popped into his head: What if, being a clone, was part of why his ‘Dad’ never really spent any time with them. Yeah, he was pretty insistent last night that he’d made Dib and Gaz because he had wanted  _ ‘children’ _ ...but, it certainly felt like they got abandoned the moment they were old enough to be left alone. 

Though, even as Dib wanted to be mad about that, even he had to admit that; all of his earliest memories  _ did  _ heavily feature Professor Membrane. Carrying him around the Lab, introducing him to science. Actually being a  _ dad  _ by doting over him and Gaz when either of them scraped their knee and cried (or, in Gaz’s case, tried to destroy the thing she’d tripped over). He’d watch silly little cartoons with them-or the occasional science documentary. He’d hold them in his lap while working on different science projects in the Lab, and even instruct them on how to help. 

Plus, there were all those times he’d taken them to the park and tried to teach them the scientific names of all the plants and animals they saw-after they’d worn themselves out running around on the playground. 

Or even all those bedtime stories he used to read-normal ones like fairy tales in big picture books. On top of the more unique ones-that basically equated to published scientific journals he thought the kids would find interesting (and they usually did). 

And then, there was that one very specific time, when his Dad finally relented-after a lot of begging and pleading from Dib-and let the boy use his telescope...Professor Membrane had actually spent a few hours that night, helping his son locate and name all of the constellations and planets that they could see with it.

But once Dib and Gaz were old enough to start skool? Once they were able to be left home alone with only the nanny bot to make them food; checking to make sure they went to bed on time, and left for skool in the morning? It was like being a ‘dad’ wasn’t important anymore, and the man started spending more and more time in his Lab and less and less with his kids, even during the summer months. Until, eventually, they only really saw him once a month for their Family Dinner Night. 

Even on those weird blue moon cases where he came home to work on a project-he’d spend most of his time down in the Basement Lab and almost none of it with his kids. 

And as a result, the conversations between them became more and more awkward as they all began to slowly see each other more akin to acquaintances-rather than family members. Their Creator slowly becoming more unsure on how to actually  _ talk  _ to them as they got older; which only made the rift between them grow.

And as a result, Professor Membrane never really went out of his way in more recent years to try and prove that he loved them as his own children. 

Not like he used to. 

Even that trip to California-three years ago-hadn’t quite captured the same level of Family Bonding as the times before skool. Because, again, Dib and Gaz were still mostly left on their own, with only glimpses of their father late at night when he’d return to their hotel room. It was nothing compared to how their Dad used to carry them around the Lab with him all day, then tucking them in at night with a bedtime story.

What had changed? 

Had it been Dib’s own growing interest in the paranormal and ‘fake’ sciences that had pushed his Dad away? 

Doubtful. 

Because  _ that  _ had actually only come about once he had started skool. 

After he struggled to make any friends on the playground, Dib had ended up spending all his time during recess in the library instead. Where he’d discovered books like “Goosebumps” and “Are You Afraid of the Dark?” and “Real and True Ghost Stories and Other Paranormal Encounters: Hauntings and Encounters That Will Make Even the Most Skeptical Believe”.  _ That’s  _ when Dib was first introduced to the paranormal; when he first started to question if ‘Real Science’ was really the only  _ true  _ answer out there in the world-like his Dad always insisted it was-or, if there was something more, out there, on this planet...in this  _ universe _ .

It was a few months after Dib had first noticed that his Dad was drifting away, when he decided to try and reconnect with him by showing him these cool new books he had discovered in skool. He just wanted his Dad to find them as neat and as interesting as he did. They were just so much fun to read! And they made so many good points about  _ how  _ and  _ why  _ such things could really exist!

Dib had brought home one of the “Real and True Ghost Stories and Other Paranormal Encounters” books from the skool library. He had wanted to share it with his Dad, wanted to show him how well researched each encounter was (so it  _ must  _ be real, right?! See, they even have pictures and sources and eyewitness accounts!). 

The first chapter of that book talked about an alien spaceship crashing in Roswell, New Mexico. An alien, who was only described as being very tall and green skinned-as there were no pictures provided-had been found alive a few days after the crash in a nearby town. Taken to be hidden away in Area 52. 

“And the book says it’s most likely  _ still  _ there to this very day!” Little Dib had said excitedly. “Can you imagine!? Real life aliens! I wonder what it looks like!? I wonder what it  _ sounds  _ like! I wonder if they have a video recording of it being vivisected or something somewhere!?”

...That was the first time Dib had truly been dismissed by the man. Told right to his face that it was all lies. There was no such thing as ‘aliens’. That those books were just a bunch of hogwash. 

That he should focus on  _ Real Science _ and stop chasing these ‘fantasies’ _. _

Dib sighed at the memory, one leg shaking lightly. 

It may have been the  _ first  _ time, but it  _ certainly  _ wasn’t the last. 

Because, it wasn’t too long after  _ that _ , that Dib had had his first  _ personal  _ paranormal encounter-it was with a playful little wood sprite at the local park. The sprite had stolen his left shoe and made him chase it around the woods for a few hours before  _ finally  _ giving it back while laughing, then vanished right before his eyes. 

That’s when he knew that it was all  _ true _ . That it wasn’t just stuff written in books! That the paranormal was really out there! And  _ that’s  _ when his obsession with the paranormal  _ really  _ took off. Because  _ he  _ knew it was real!

But, when Dib tried to tell anyone and everyone who would listen what had happened, what he had  _ seen _ . He was constantly scoffed at and ignored and teased. But he knew what he saw! He knew it was real! He didn’t imagine it! He didn’t dream it up! 

But the more he tried to explain and convince other people, the more he was teased and bullied for it.

Even so, Dib was determined to prove it to them, because, shortly after the sprite, he began to see more paranormal things all around him: ghosts in old buildings, spirits in the woods, Orbs outside his bedroom window, Bigfoot in his backyard, Vampire bees in the skool yard.

So, even if his Dad, and everyone else, harshly dismissed him, Dib knew it was all  _ real _ ...he just had to find enough proof and evidence to convince his Dad...to convince  _ everyone _ that it was all true!

_...Alright, Dib. Focus.  _ His legs had started to pick up speed.

What was he thinking about? Oh, right.

If his Dad drifting away had been before that time...then what was the true cause of it? What had made his Dad really stop spending time with him and Gaz? If it wasn’t Dib’s own waning interest in ‘Real Science’ and growing interest in the paranormal, what was it? 

Was it just the fact that they were of skool age that caused the shift? The fact that Professor Membrane finally had someone  _ else  _ to watch his ‘children’ for him? Was that all it had taken for the man to no longer feel the need to constantly be with them? Constantly care for them? 

Was that all it took? Having someone else to keep an eye on his kids, and suddenly he didn’t even want to spend any time with them unless he really had to?

So much for ‘ _ I just really wanted children _ ’.  _ HA!  _

Maybe that was true,  _ once _ . Maybe he  _ had  _ wanted  _ children _ . But, children grow up. Children develop their own personalities and interests. Children become  _ people _ . 

And Professor Membrane didn’t seem to understand or like the fact that his  _ clones  _ had developed differently than what he had probably hoped or planned for. So, rather than accept them as individuals, he just started to ignore them? Because they weren’t growing up according to his plan? Was that what had happened??

Dib buried his head in his hands...he knew he just said he needed to come to terms with all of this, but he also  _ really  _ didn’t want to have a mental breakdown in the middle of class (today)…but he just couldn’t get past that thought. Was that all he was to Professor Membrane? A failed science experiment that didn’t turn out quite the way he had hoped for?

_ I know he said that wasn’t true… _

But the thought kept coming back to him.

Maybe if he just focused on skool for now. Push all thoughts of being a clone-and his so called ‘Dad’-out of his head until he was home again...until he was alone and able to work through all this stuff properly...

Ignoring it  _ probably  _ wasn’t the ‘healthiest’ solution. But he didn’t exactly have much of a choice at the moment...all things considered; being in a classroom surrounded by his fellow students being the biggest reason why he should try ignoring it for now.

Dib winced as he felt a tight pain in his stomach.

And! To make matters worse-with everything else that was happening-Dib had  _ completely  _ forgotten that he hadn’t even eaten in the last day and a half! 

His stomach gave a very loud, protesting rumble.

He could instantly feel more than a dozen eyes on him, harshly judging.

He slumped at his desk and silently hoped that he could hold out until lunch time. 

Maybe the pain in his gut would help distract him from all these awful clone thoughts.

That, and this stupid eyepatch...

He had promised his Dad he wouldn't use or wear his upgraded glasses for the next few days-even though  _ Dib  _ was pretty confident that the changes he'd made to the code would be safe enough now; his  _ Dad  _ had insisted on further ‘Lab sanctioned and environmentally controlled’ testing, along with ‘Several computer simulations, just to be safe’. 

So, Dib was stuck wearing his old, boring glasses-along with a white bandage eyepatch to let his right eye rest post-surgery.

Dib knew the extra testing was just to make sure everything was indeed ‘up to par’ with his ‘father’s’ standards-so that he wouldn’t end up ruining his eyes again any time soon. But, it was still annoying-and a little insulting-that his Dad didn’t seem to trust the changes Dib had made to them and insisted on double checking! 

The man insisted on double checking  _ everything  _ himself! He always tried to push Dib into Real Science, but then never seemed to trust any of the actual projects Dib made without looking it over and finding something to change about it!

Then again, it  _ had  _ been the HD mode that had caused the main issue with his eyes-and that coding was  _ all  _ Professor Membrane’s doing. So, it made  _ some  _ sense that the man would insist on needing to double check the code. 

...He hoped his Dad didn’t edit the code too much without him. There was a chance the man could alter it enough so that the Loughran was no longer visible, and Dib would  _ never  _ be able to reverse that! Not without a  _ lot  _ more time to just sit and really study the original coding so he could recreate it.

Plus, he still needed to borrow Chomp...so he could run some tests to see which parts of the code could be dropped while still keeping the alien visible.

Of course, that meant he’d have to be able to successfully download the code onto his laptop...either without his Dad finding out,  _ or  _ finding a way to ask permission to download it without his Dad getting suspicious and asking too many questions as to  _ why  _ Dib needed to have it on his laptop in the first place. 

Because obviously, Dib couldn’t just ask his Dad to edit the code on the Lab’s computer for him-since it would likely take  _ a lot _ of trial and error type tests for him to figure out the coding and his Dad was never really home enough for that. 

Plus, sneaking down to the Lab to do it himself each time would be a bit risky, too. His Dad’s already caught him down there without permission once, who knows what would happen if he was caught down there a second time. Only reason he didn’t get in trouble for it  _ this  _ time was because the whole ‘clone’ secret got spilled, and it was a bit more important. So the whole ‘You’re Grounded’ thing-thankfully-got completely skipped.

Although, with his Dad agreeing to spend some quality time with him all day tomorrow, maybe Dib  _ could  _ simply ask for it to be downloaded onto his laptop? If he said no, then all Dib had to do would be to sneak down to the Lab alone, behind his Dad’s back the next time he wasn’t home (as if he’d have to wait long for  _ that _ ), and download it himself the first chance he got-hopefully before his Dad changed anything important. 

That would definitely be smarter than trying to use the Lab’s computer each time...wait, didn’t he already come to that conclusion?? Like, last  _ night _ !? Why was his stupid brain making him think about that again?

_ Stupid sleep deprevesion. Stupid starvation.  _ He sighed, dragging a hand down his face. __

_ I’ll have to steal it. Dad was pretty adamant about the code being ‘too complex’ for me to simply ‘play around with it’. He’d never agree to let me just download it and edit it myself. No matter how nicely I ask or how good of a case I make about being competent enough to understand it. _

_It’s as if he doesn’t have any confidence in my own computer skills!_ _And I can’t exactly_ explain _to him why-or what-I want to change-not without revealing that there’s this_ cool **_invisible alien_** _I want to study! And it’s not like I can exactly_ ask _him to change the code all willy nilly on the Lab’s computer, or even try to modify it myself-not when I still have to figure out what_ part _of the spectrum the Loughran is even in first!_

Dib lifted his head and tried to hide his look of frustration as he watched Ms Bitters write something math related on the chalkboard. His brain seemed to be stuck in a loop and he couldn’t seem to redirect it.

Downloading the code onto his laptop was the best solution the more he thought about it. It would give him a chance to learn the code and a chance to play with it in his own time; without risking his Dad questioning everything-or getting suspicious. 

And, although it  _ would  _ be really amazing if he could actually prove to his Dad that aliens were  _ real _ !...He  _ had  _ promised Kailah he’d keep it a secret...so it would be best if his Dad didn’t find out  _ why  _ he needed to make the adjustments he needed to make.

He let out another soft sigh as he leaned back in his seat and pushed his old, boring glasses up his nose. Dib then leaned forward again and propped his head up on one hand-his leg still bouncing, as he started to pretend that he was paying attention to the lesson. His mind began to wonder aimlessly,  _ finally  _ free of the stupid loop now that he’d adjusted how he was sitting. 

The eyepatch he had to wear made his glasses sit on his face a little lopsided-not nearly as annoyingly as yesterday-when the bent frames absolutely  _ refused  _ to stay in their proper place-but, it was still enough that Dib was already a little annoyed at them. 

At least he’d be in class all day today, instead of running around the woods. So, the glasses were overall less likely to be moving about his face and he wouldn’t have to readjust them as much? 

He had to try and find that silver lining somewhere, didn’t he?

Not that that mattered much...seeing that his depth perception was nonexistent right now. 

Plus, he was  _ also  _ pretty beaten, bruised, and sore from everything that happened yesterday. And with the whole ‘working on a minimal amount of sleep’ and ‘no food’ thing...that silver lining was starting to look a lot more like a single strand of silk from a spider’s web, than the silhouette of a storm cloud.

He felt absolutely exhausted from the mental and physical stress of it all.

_I probably should have skipped skool today, too._ He mused, knowing that Gaz never would have let him ditch two days in a row-even if their Dad had given him permission right in front of her. And he knew, even if he was home right now, he’d never be able to sleep. His brain would still be racing around in these same well worn ruts just as quickly as it was right now...probably even _worse,_ actually, since he wouldn’t have to pretend to be paying attention to whatever Ms Bitters was talking about. He’d just be stuck alone in his room with his thoughts...and there’s no telling how bad his existential crisis would be if that was the case.

_ New thought, Dib. New thought. Don’t think about that. Wait till after skool to think about that. _

Dib found himself glancing over towards Kailah’s empty desk, briefly feeling a little jealous at the thought that  _ she  _ was able to skip-while simultaneously hoping that she was at least feeling a little better than he currently was. 

It was a weird mix of emotions.

Letting out another small sigh, he just stared at the empty seat; allowing his mind to wander to the next topic of its choice as Ms Bitters continued to ramble on in the background incoherently. 

Kailah had always seemed like a quiet loner type-not exactly an outcast like Dib himself, per say, but, perhaps a bit more on par with his sister; it was like, she  _ chose  _ to separate herself from the other kids, rather than being actively shunned by them...though, she probably  _ would  _ be now...as soon as everyone found out that she was friends with him. They’d see her as a freak by association.

When she had first arrived, a few of the kids had tried to invite her to play games during recess-and she did. But as soon as they stopped verbally inviting her-and instead, just waved her over or assumed she’d join in on her own-she simply stopped playing with them. As if she’d only taken the invitation to be polite. 

During lunch, she always seemed to prefer sitting alone, she’d make small talk, of course, if anyone else happened to sit at her table. And she’d accept an invitation to join a group at their’s-if one was given-but she never seemed to actively seek it out...and she would never return the next day without a second invitation being extended first. 

It only took about a week and a half before the other kids stopped trying to include her all together.

Even so, Kailah appeared to be okay with being alone. Never going out of her way to make friends, but accepting conversation if it came her way. Everyone-Dib included-just assumed she was a shy, quiet new kid who was just having trouble fitting in to a new skool.

Now, though, Dib knew the truth. It was because she wasn’t  _ really  _ alone, she constantly had someone to talk to.  _ That  _ was why she never really went out of her way to try and join-or start-a conversation. Because she was technically always having one.

And yet, even with all of that, Dib couldn’t help but notice that she seemed to act a little differently with him. Sure, the initial conversation had started the same; her sitting alone, him approaching and confronting her. 

But, after that, she was actually pretty willing to continue to talk to him-once the ice was broken. Unlike how she was with the other kids, where it was all polite-and sometimes awkward-small talk, accompanied by small smiles and slight nods. 

She actually appeared to enjoy the conversation topics that Dib offered. 

She actually spoke back, instead of  _ just  _ listening.

But the thing was...she  _ also  _ listened!

Which was something Dib...wasn’t used to. Actually being heard...actually being believed.

And...it all started with a simple conversation. A simple  _ confrontation _ .

Dib had done another one of his oral presentations on the existence of cryptids; this one in question being about Bigfoot. As the other kids openly mocked him-as per usually-Kailah had done something different. 

Up until that day...she had never said anything during his lectures; while all the other kids would mock and tease...she was always quiet. Always oddly observant. 

But earlier this week, she had said something that had caught Dib off guard.

_ “I’m sorry, but don’t really believe in Bigfoot.” _

People usually said stuff like ‘Bigfoot’s not real’, ‘There’s no such thing as cryptids’ or ‘Dib, you’re  **crazy** if you believe in stuff like that,  **freak** !’

But she had said something completely different. 

First, she  _ apologized _ !? 

She apologized, then said she didn’t really believe in Bigfoot. 

Just like that! In such a calm and casual tone!? 

A tone that had actually sounded  _ so  _ polite and friendly-when compared to everyone  _ else's  _ comments and sneers...which usually included some insulting combination of ‘stupid’, ‘crazy’ ‘freak’. 

But not hers.

And, with the way it was worded-the fact that she  _ never  _ said anything during any of his other lectures-it implied that she  _ did  _ believe in other stuff.

It was such a stark contrast from what he was  _ so  _ used to hearing, that he just  _ had  _ to confront her at lunch and figure out exactly what she had meant by it! 

And he had been  _ right _ .

She did believe in other stuff: ghosts, the Loch Ness monster,  _ aliens _ .

And then...and then she had said:  _ “You’ve convinced me. I believe in Bigfoot now.”  _ and Dib  _ still  _ couldn’t get over the weird twist of warmth he felt whenever he thought of that! Someone  _ believed  _ him!

And even with everything that was going on-her almost dying, the crash, the fight-she  _ still  _ struck up a conversation with him about Vampires! As if it was a normal every day talking point for her! She’d asked his opinion on their  _ lore! _ She listened to what he had to say!!

For lack of a better word, the feeling was very  _ alien  _ to Dib. Being listened to. Being taken seriously. Being treated like a...friend.

_ Are we friends? Or am I just being an optimistic idiot?  _ It wasn’t exactly something he could just come out and ask her-...or was it? Would that be weird? What if they weren’t friends and she just laughed at his face and got all offended that he’d even suggested it?

Dib laid his head back down on his desk, his legs bouncing rapidly.

What if she was only being nice to him, because she felt it would be too awkward to be rude?

Especially after he found out the truth about Chomp...what if she was only humoring him so that he wouldn’t go and tell the world about the Loughran? 

He wouldn’t. 

Well...he  _ would  _ have. 

But not now. 

Not after-…

Not if…

If they were really friends…?

But then...would that mean he  _ would  _ try and tell people about the Loughran if Kailah flat out told him to get lost?

Dib turned his head towards the window, looking up at the gray sky outside.  _ It looks like it might start raining any minute now.  _

If they weren’t friends-and there was no hope of them ever  _ becoming  _ friends...would he end up trying to expose the invisible alien? And thus her? 

He thought he wouldn’t, or at least, he tried to  _ convince  _ himself that he wouldn’t. 

But he knew that, if  _ originally  _ she had started off being mean to him-like all the other kids-he would have... 

But now? 

Even if she showed up to skool on Monday and was nothing but mean to him for the rest of the year. Would that brief show of kindness and friendship actually be enough to keep him quiet? Just because there had been a small handful of days where they sorta got along...and she  _ technically  _ was never mean to him before...? 

Could he keep quiet? 

Would that brief show of kindness be enough, even if she was nothing but a bully going forward? 

Just because she was the first person to ever be nice to him? Even just for a few days? Would that keep him from telling the whole world that aliens were real and he had  _ proof _ !?

Dib thought about how embarrassed and angry he had felt when she’d laughed in his face after he was caught red-handed trying to pet Chomp; trying to see what an  _ invisible  _ shapeshifting  _ alien  _ felt like.

But then, he thought about how, as soon as she realized how much the sound of that laugh hurt him, she’d stopped...she tried to console him. She apologized. Something no one else has ever done. 

Not sincerely, at least.

At first, he had thought she was trying to lower his guard, make him relax so she could laugh at him again. Hurt him again... _ that’s _ what people have done before. 

That’s what they usually did after an ‘apology’. 

That’s why Dib had been too stubborn and embarrassed to recognize and accept the apology in the moment. 

Because he’s been hurt by fake apologies before. Too many times to count.

...But she looked like she had meant it.

Then, after the crash, they’d sat and had...a nice conversation. It felt so easy, just sitting and talking in the middle of nowhere. He’d told her about his awesome holy water idea-getting a priest to bless a whole 36 pack at once-and she’d called it  _ clever _ . 

Then later, she’d asked him all those questions about Vampires. Then she told him that he’d convinced her about Bigfoot!

How could he expose her secret after all that? Even if she was just humoring him, or started being mean to him next week for no reason, or simply gave him the silent treatment for the rest of their lives. 

Could he really bring himself to expose the Loughran after how well he and Kailah got along over the past few days?

And what if they  _ were  _ friends now? 

Could he...could he tell her what he’d just found out? That he was a clone? 

How would she react? 

Would she actually end up calling him a freak then? An abomination? Everything that everyone has always told him that he  _ was _ . 

Or would she still see him as: Dib?

Would she still treat him like a friend if she found out he was a clone? Would she accept him, because she knows aliens are real and also believes in the paranormal? Or would she reject him? Because he was some weird freaky Frankenstein-esque result of a science experiment?

There had been a few times yesterday, where Dib had acted without really thinking, and she’d laughed at him, and the sound of it had set him on edge. He really didn’t want her to laugh at him again...or to feel rejected by her just because she found out the same truth he’d just learned.

Maybe he should wait until he was certain that they were friends before telling her. 

But how would she react if she found out that he kept such a huge secret from her? Especially after she’s revealed her big secret to him? 

But she didn’t exactly tell him about the Loughran of her own free will…Zim had spilled the beans on that.

And Dib could always use the excuse that he’d only  _ just  _ found out about being a clone-and was still trying to process the information-as the reason why he didn’t tell her right away?

Which...is exactly what was happening right now…

_ Alright, Dib. Enough with the angst! You can have these emotionally terrifying thoughts later! Not now. Not in class. Think of something else. Think of something else. _

Yesterday, after everything, Kailah and him had shared a laugh. 

Dib couldn’t even remember  _ what  _ they had laughed about-something to do with Zim? He had a feeling it was probably just exhaustion and nerves trying to settle-after that extremely long and stressful day had finally come to an end.

But, either way, it was the first time he could remember actually laughing  _ with  _ someone. He was so often the butt of the joke...that it was so weird being on the same side as another person while they laughed. As he laughed...as they laughed together…?

He didn’t want to lose that. It was weird, but it was a  _ nice  _ weird.

What if when she found out he was a clone, she looked at him like everyone else did? Like he was a freak.

_ Ugh! Dib! Different thoughts! _ He shook his head and brought his focus back to the classroom around him...only to find that he was getting the bad kind of weird looks from the other kids. 

He hadn’t even done or said anything yet today! He’s just been sitting here! Thinking and-yeah, his legs were probably going a million miles a second and causing a mini earthquake, but that didn’t give any of them the right to stare at him! 

He could feel eyes on him from all directions-as if they were just waiting for him to jump to his feet and start shouting about aliens again. 

It also felt like they were all silently judging him. 

But for  _ what _ ?

His bruises? His eyepatch? For his bouncing leg and constant sighing? Had Ms Bitters asked him a question and they were all waiting for him to respond?

His coat and jeans covered the bruises on his body well enough. Even so, he still probably looked like he’d lost a fist fight with a punching machine thanks to the bruising on his face, both from the spaceship crash, and the completely unrelated eye surgery which forced him to wear this stupid eyepatch.

It didn’t look like Ms Bitters was waiting for an answer...she was just sitting at her desk and rattling off some doomsday history lesson. 

So why were people staring at him?

Dib frowned slightly, curious and confused, his legs started to pick up speed again. 

He glanced over at Zim, who was just sitting in his assigned seat by the door-Dib would be lying if he said he hadn’t been surprised to see the poorly disguised alien in class when he’d arrived this morning. 

He would have thought for certain that Zim would have disappeared at the first opportunity after his secret was officially revealed and confirmed to him and Kailah yesterday. But, well, there he was, sitting at his desk. 

Even though Zim knew for a fact that the Loughran wasn’t going to be here today...So why was  _ he  _ here?

Dib still had to figure out what the connection was between the two aliens. They had both supposedly been shocked to discover that the other was here...but then, why was Zim even here? Why had he come to  _ this  _ skool if it wasn’t because of the Loughran? And why was Zim  _ still  _ here, after the fights and Dib accusing him of being an alien in front of the whole class? 

Why was Zim on this  _ planet _ ?

The green alien appeared to be pretending that everything was normal, just staring at the blackboard looking bored. It was as if he didn't even know Dib was currently staring at him. 

As if nothing had even happened yesterday.

_ Wait,  _ Dib squinted as he tried to focus his good eye on the alien that was all the way on the other side of the classroom.  _ Zim doesn’t even look injured!  _ Dib was almost offended by that.  _ I wonder if that means he has super healing or something!  _ He then thought excitedly. 

That’s when he realized he hadn’t actually had time to write down any of his theories or observations from yesterday! Dib quickly bent down and pulled out his notebook.

As the first half of class continued to drag on, he wrote down everything he could remember from yesterday. Observations both about Zim, and Chomp; behaviors, mannerisms, strengths, weaknesses. 

He drew doodles of Zim’s ship, the Loughran’s different shapes, the Pod, Zim wigless, several of the symbols he remembered seeing on the ship’s dashboard, what he thought Zim’s clawed hands might look like gloveless, what he thought Zim’s eyes might look like without those fake contacts, blueprints for the ship’s engines...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It is currently a quarter to two in the morning as I upload this chapter (and as I type that I realize it is now technically my birthday 8D this chapter is my birthday present to you!), I'm only about 90% satisfied with it but it's already been a few /months/ of editing it so I think it's time I just let it go and move on to the next one.
> 
> Please remember to leave a comment and I'll see y'all next chapter.


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